1 


t  lln  iftEmorlam  * 

FROM  THE  LIBRARY  OF 

REV.  WILLIAM  A.  BREWER,  D.D. 

Recto*  £t.  Paul's  episcopal  Church 

BURLING  AME,  CALIFORNIA 


1862-1931,  A.  D. 


THE  KINDERGARTEN 
IN  A   NUTSHELL 


LADIES'  HOME  JOURNAL 
PRACTICAL  LIBRARY 


Vol.  I. — The   Kindergarten  in  a  Nutshell,  by  Nora 
A.  Smith. 

Vol.  II. — Successward,  by  Edward  Bok,  Editor  of  the 
Ladies'  Home  Journal. 

Vol.  III.— Good  Cooking,  by  Mrs.  Rorer. 

Vol.  IV. — Inside  100  Homes',  by  W.  M.  Johnson. 

Vol.  V.— Model  Homes  at  Low  Cost,  by  W.  M.  Price. 


LADIES'  HOME  JOURNAL 
PRACTICAL  LIBRARY 


THE  KINDERGARTEN 

IN  A  NUTSHELL 


A   Handbook  for  the  Home 


NORA  ARCHIBALD  SMITH 

AUTHOR  OF  "UNDER  THE  CACTUS  FLAG"  AND  "THE 
CHILDREN  OF  THE  FUTURE,"  AND  JOINT  AUTHOR  WITH 
KATE  DOUGLAS  WIGGIN  OF  "THE  REPUBLIC  OF  CHILD- 
HOOD," "CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS,"  "THE  STORY  HOUR," 
AND  "  KINDERGARTEN  CHIMES." 


I899 


PHILADELPHIA 

CURTIS  PUBLISHING 
COMPANY 


NEW  YORK 
DOUBLEDAY  & 
McCLURE  CO. 


ySe  o  %  1M  U  V  i 


Copyright,  i8gg,  by 
THE  CURTIS  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 


PREFACE 


Many  readers  are  as  impatient  as  Lord 
Bacon  was  of  "  prefaces,  passages,  and  ex- 
cusations,"  and  yet  a  preface  may  some- 
times be  as  necessary  as  the  preliminary  sip 
the  duck  takes  before  slipping  into  the  water, 
— a  procedure  apparently  not  so  much  an 
end  in  itself  as  a  preparation  for  what  is 
to  follow. 

To  begin  the  preface,  then,  the  series  of 
papers  from  which,  with  considerable  addi- 
tion and  alteration,  this  little  volume  has 
been  made  was  originally  written  for  ' '  The 
Ladies'1  Home  Journal,"  in  response  to  the 
requests  of  many  of  its  subscribers  that  they 
might  know  something  of  the  kindergarten 
as  a  means  of  development  for  children  and 
of  the  possible  adaptation  of  its  principles 
to  the  home. 

The  requests,  from  men  as  well  as  women, 
fathers  as  well  as  mothers,  naturally  came 
for  the  most  part  from  dwellers  in  isolated 


i 


828851 


Preface 

places,  villages,  and  the  smaller  towns  of 
this  and  other  countries  ;  and  it  is  for  them 
that  this  handbook  is  intended,  rather  than 
for  people  within  easy  reach  of  the  advan- 
tages of  a  great  city.  The  number  of  let- 
ters of  inquiry  which  the  articles  have  called 
forth  testifies  to  a  general  interest  in  the  sub- 
ject, while  the  tone  of  some  of  them  makes  it 
necessary  to  say  again  that  the  papers  were 
never  for  a  moment  supposed  to  take  the 
place  of  instruction  in  a  training  school, 
nor  to  produce  a  finished  kinder gartner. 
No  book,  be  it  ever  so  bulky  and  comprehen- 
sive, could  attempt  to  do  that,  nor  could  it 
give  so  adequate  an  idea  of  the  child-garden 
as  a  single  day  spent  in  one  of  those  ideal 
communities  would  impart.  But  there  are 
many  parents,  past,  present,  and  future,  as 
well  as  many  persons  vicariously  interested 
in  the  training  of  children,  ivho  lack  the 
time,  the  opportunity,  or  the  means  to  gain 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  FroebeVs  educa- 
tional philosophy  and  yet  are  most  anxious 
to  learn  as  much  of  it  as  may  lie  within 
their  power. 

To  such  persons,  and  their  name  is  ap- 
parently legion  in  America,  this  handbook 
is  addressed,  and  not  to  those  desirous  of 
opening  a  kindergarten  as  a  means  of  live- 


Preface 

lihood,  nor  to  those  who  aspire  to  learn  by 
reading  or  correspondence  what  can  never 
be  thoroughly  understood  save  by  viva  voce 
instruction,  explanation,  and  practice. 

If  its  purpose  is  clearly  defined,  its  brevity 
will  be  as  clearly  comprehended,  and  also  the 
fact  that  it  aims  to  create  an  appetite  for 
the  subject,  rather  than  to  gratify  it.  If  it 
serves  as  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  the 
kindergarten,  if  it  leads  some  mothers  to  go 
direct  to  Froebel  and  learn  from  him  the 
magic  words  that  will  turn  their  tasks  into 
pleasures,  if  it  persuades  a  few  young  women 
to  take  the  kindergarten  training,  not  alone 
that  they  may  become  independent,  but  for 
the  sake  of  a  fairer,  fuller  womanhood,  it 
will  have  more  than  fulfilled  its  reason  of 
being. 

The  title  of  the  manual,  "  The  Kinder- 
garten in  a  Nutshell,"  may  seem  an  arro- 
gant one  to  those  who  believe,  as  indeed  the 
author  does,  that  a  lifetime  of  study  is  not 
enough  for  the  understanding  of  FroebeVs 
philosophy.  One  would  say,  on  first  thought, 
that  to  condense  such  infinite  riches  in  so 
little  room  would  be  a  task  for  him  who 
packed  Pandora^s  box,  or  compressed  the 
Arabian  genie  into  the  bottle  ;  but,  on  second 
thought,  one  would  see  perhaps  that  all  a 


Preface 

nut  need  hold  is  the  life-principle,  and  the 
mustard-seed  is  proof  of  how  tiny  that  may 
be.  If  still  you  question  whether  this  prin- 
ciple can  persist  in  so  confined  a  space,  put 
it  to  the  test.  Plant  the  nut  in  favourable 
soil,  and  if,  indeed,  not  one  green  shoot 
appear,  then  the  author  will  confess  her 
failure. 


Contents. 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  WHAT  is  THE  KINDERGARTEN  ?    .     .     .  1 

II.  WHAT  SHALL  WE  PLAY  WITH  ?  ...  22 

III.  WHAT  SHALL  WE  MAKE  ? 43 

IV.  NATURE'S  TOYS  AND  PASTIMES      ...  65 
V.  COME,  TELL  Us  A  STORY 80 

VI.  COME  AND  PLAY  WITH  Us 102 

VII.  COME,  LET  Us  LIVE  WITH  OUR  CHILDREN  123 


JOY  to  the  laughing  troop 

That  from  the  threshold  starts, 

Led  on  by  courage  and  immortal  hope, 

And  with  the  morning  in  their  hearts. 

They  to  the  disappointed  earth  shall  give 

The  lives  we  meant  to  live, 

Beautiful,  free,  and  strong  ; 

The  light  we  almost  had 

Shall  make  them  glad  ; 

The  words  we  waited  long 

Shall  ran  in  music  from  their  voice  and  song. 

Unto  our  world  hope's  daily  oracles 

From  their  lips  shall  be  brought  ; 

And  in  our  lives  love's  hourly  miracles 

By  them  be  wrought. 

Their  merry  task  shall  be 

To  make  the  house  all  fine  and  sweet, 

Its  new  inhabitants  to  greet 

The  wondrous  dawning  century. 

EDWARD  ROWLAND  SILL. 


The  Kindergarten  in  a 
Nutshell 

CHAPTER  I 

WHAT   IS   THE   KIKDERGAKTEK? 

WHAT  is  the  kindergarten  ?  The  word 
has  made  itself  a  home  in  English  now ;  it 
may  be  considered  to  be  thoroughly  natu- 
ralized ;  but  perhaps  even  yet  it  is  not  uni- 
versally understood  in  its  adopted  country, 
for,  though  a  good  citizen,  it  retains  a 
touch  of  foreign  accent.  What  does  the 
word  mean  in  the  German,  and  why  did 
the  great  teacher,  Friedrich  Froebel,  cry 
"  Eureka!"  when  it  first  came  to  his 
mind  as  fitly  descriptive  of  his  new  edu- 
cational institution  ? 

Kindergarten — child-garden:  the  name 
is  simple  enough  and  yet  it  is  absolutely 
1 


The  Kindergarten 

new,  while  there  is  a  touch  of  genius  in  its 
simplicity  and  in  its  perfect  adaptation  to 
the  system  it  describes. 

The  True  Meaning  of  the  Word 
What  does  the  word  garden  suggest  to 
us  ?  A  sheltered  spot,  guarded  from  rough 
winds  and  open  to  the  sunshine,  rich, 
fruitful  earth,  carefully  trained  vines, 
blooming  flowers,  soft  green  turf,  well- 
kept  paths,  abundance  of  air  and  dew  and 
rain,  and  everywhere  freshness  and  fra- 
grance and  loveliness.  And  what  of  the 
gardener,  what  are  his  duties  ?  It  is  he  who 
lays  out  the  garden,  who  prepares  the  earth, 
who  plans  the  wind-breaks,  who  sets  out 
the  plants  in  favourable  locations  accord- 
ing to  their  kind,  who  uproots  the  weeds, 
destroys  noxious  insects,  prunes  and  trains, 
mows  the  turf,  protects  the  tender  seed- 
lings from  glare  of  sun,  and  provides  water 
when  the  skies  are  niggardly.  He  does  all 
these  things,  if  he  is  wise  and  careful,  but 
he  knows  that  flower  and  tree  and  vine  and 
grass-blade  must  do  their  own  growing, 
and  that  neither  dew  nor  rain,  air  nor  sun- 
2 


In  a  Nutshell 

shine  are  his  to  give.  Saint  Paul  under- 
stood the  philosophy  of  the  matter  when 
he  said :  "  So  then  neither  is  he  that  plant- 
eth  anything,  neither  he  that  watereth ;  but 
God  that  giveth  the  increase." 

Just  as  the  gardener  knows  that  the  mi- 
raculous life-principle  exists  in  every  seed 
he  sows,  and  will  develop  under  the  right 
conditions,  so  Froebel  believes  that  in  every 
child  there  is  the  possibility  of  a  perfect 
man,,  and  that  it  is  the  task  of  the  educa- 
tor to  provide  the  conditions  which  will 
develop  that  possibility. 

It  is  that  portion  of  Froebel's  philosophy 
which  relates  to  the  training  of  children 
below  school  age  that  we  are  to  discuss  in 
this  volume,  and  it  is  his  insistence  upon 
the  importance  of  this  formative  period 
that  furnishes  one  of  his  distinctive  contri- 
butions to  educational  ideals.  The  kin- 
dergarten was  the  product  of  the  lifelong 
thought,  study,  and  experience  of  a  pro- 
found child -observer  and  child-lover,  a  man 
rich  in  native  insight  and  wisdom,  and  well 
versed  in  the  knowledge  of  the  schools.  It 
provides  for  the  young  human  plant  the 
3 


The  Kindergarten 

proper  conditions  for  growth  and  harmoni- 
ous development,  suitable  climate,  soil,  and 
exposure,  careful  nurture,  happy  occupa- 
tion for  activities  of  soul,  mind,  and  body, 
and  opportunities  for  the  learning  of  those 
relationships  which  bind  man  to  his  fellow- 
creatures,  to  nature,  and  to  God. 

The  Aim.  of  Kindergarten  Discipline 
The  aim  in  discipline  is  to  make  each 
child  self-governing,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  teach  him  his  responsibility  toward,  and 
dependence  upon,  the  community  of  which 
he  is  a  part.  We  believe  that  kindergar- 
ten principles,  when  rightly  applied  in  the 
training  of  American  children,  will  prove 
of  the  greatest  efficiency  in  correcting  the 
faults  to  which  they  seem  peculiarly  sub- 
ject. Whether  it  be  due  to  the  climate, 
that  convenient  scapegoat  for  our  national 
failings,  or  whether,  a  far  more  likely  sup- 
position, it  comes  from  over-indulgence, 
undue  notice,  undue  prominence  at  home, 
our  children  arc  often  markedly  nervous, 
high-strung,  precocious,  and  therefore 
somewhat  difficult  to  manage.  They  lack 
4 


In  a  Nutshell 

that  fine  flower-like  serenity,  that  healthy 
physical  poise,  that  red-cheeked,  bread- 
and-milk,  early -to -bed -and -early -to -rise 
vigour  which  mark  their  little  English  cou- 
sins,  for  instance  ;  and  though  we  may  be 
proud  of  their  superior  quickness  and  vi- 
vacity, our  pride  must  droop  a  little  when 
we  see  how  easily  these  may  degenerate 
into  positive  faults. 

When  we  hear  the  traveller  say,  as  we 
sometimes  do,  that  American  women  are 
charming,  American  men  fine  fellows,  but 
American  children  detestable,  the  fire 
flashes  in  our  eyes  for  a  minute,  and  then 
we  look  about  us  to  see  what  foundation 
there  may  be  for  the  remark.  Granted 
that  it  is  not  and  never  could  be  said  of 
your  children  and  of  mine,  but  how  about 
our  neighbours'  ?  Do  we  find  in  them  any 
failings  which  a  just,  reasonable,  firm, 
though  gentle  government,  appropriate  to 
their  needs  and  to  their  years,  might  have 
corrected  had  they  been  subject  to  it  from 
the  beginning  ?  If  so,  then  we  may  well 
recommend  the  application  of  discipline 
according  to  the  ideals  of  Froebel,  satisfied 
5 


The  Kindergarten 

that  such  discipline  will  bring  poise,  calm- 
ness, self-control,  self-forgetfulness,  and 
helpfulness,  and  that  therefore  it  is  espe- 
cially well  fitted  for  the  coming  citizen  of  a 
republic.  Not  only  is  it  a  school  of  citizen- 
ship, but  it  is  a  school  of  patriotism  also, 
for  it  trains  the  child  from  the  beginning 
in  the  history  of  his  country,  so  far  as 
his  undeveloped  powers  are  able  to  receive 
it,  and  places  before  him  in  the  national 
hero-stories  an  ideal  toward  which  he  may 
struggle  in  the  future. 

Women  the  Natural  Educators  of  Children 
Valuable  as  the  kindergarten  is  to  the 
child,  it  is  no  less  valuable  to  the  woman 
who  studies,  who  broods  over,  who  lives 
out  its  principles. 

It  was  Froebel  who  said  that  the  destiny 
of  nations  lies  in  the  hands  of  women,  and 
to  them  he  turns  as  the  natural  and  inev- 
itable educators  of  the  human  race.  No 
woman  who  has  read  Froebel  and  believed 
his  words  can  feel  thereafter  that  her  sphere 
is  small,  her  opportunities  restricted,  for 
he  gives  her  a  new  light  upon  her  life,  and 
6 


In   a   Nutshell 

especially  upon  that  "  quiet,  secluded  sanc- 
tuary of  the  family  which  only  can  give 
back  to  us  the  welfare  of  mankind."  It 
is  because  his  philosophy  contains  so  much 
of  the  spiritual  element  that  those  who 
study  it  deeply  are,  as  our  United  States 
Commissioner  of  Education  once  said, 
"  constantly  growing  in  insight  and  power 
of  achievement." 

For  the  sake  of  the  fulness  of  develop- 
ment which  it  brings  to  the  whole  nature, 
we  would  make  kindergarten  training  a 
part  of  every  woman's  education  ;  but  it  is 
never  too  late  to  begin  a  good  movement, 
and  if  the  mothers  whose  school-days  are 
long  over,  and  even  the  grandmothers  who 
read  these  words,  have  never  had  an  op- 
portunity to  learn  from  Froebel,  we  would 
at  once  enroll  them  into  classes,  and  urge 
them  to  engage  in  the  study  even  if  they 
have  reached  the  advanced  age  of  three- 
score and  ten. 

Study  Clubs  of  Mothers  May  be  Organized 
In    many    small    towns,    villages,    and 
sparsely    settled    neighbourhoods    of    the 


The   Kindergarten 

United  States  there  are  earnest  women 
and  true  mothers  eager  and  anxious  to 
gain  new  light  for  the  children's  sake,  but 
there  is  as  yet  no  kindergarten,  and  there- 
fore no  kindergartner  who  can  serve  as  a 
leader  in  the  study  of  Froebel.  But  let 
not  that  discourage  us;  there  is  nothing 
we  cannot  get  if  we  desire  it  sufficiently 
and  are  willing  to  wait  for  it,  and  the  only 
thing  needed  here  is  one  woman — just  one 
— with  sufficient  energy,  interest,  and  en- 
thusiasm to  gather  together  a  few  of  her 
neighbours  and  tell  them  her  desires  and  the 
reasons  for  them.  At  this  meeting,  which 
may  be  entirely  informal,  a  Study  Club 
may  be  organized,  without  officers  it  may 
be,  and  without  constitution  or  by-laws — 
simply  a  company  of  earnest  women  re- 
solved to  know  what  the  kindergarten  can 
do  for  them,  for  their  children,  and  for 
other  people's  children. 

There  are  various  firms  in  this  country 
devoted  to  the  publication  of  educational 
literature,  any  one  of  which  could  give  ad- 
vice as  to  the  best  books  on  the  kindergar- 
ten, which,  it  should  be  explained,  are  for 
8 


In  a   Nutshell 

the  use  of  a  Study  Club,  and  should  not, 
therefore,  be  too  technical  in  character. 

Perhaps  it  would  be  well,  however,  be- 
fore beginning  upon  books,  to  take  up 
something  briefer  and  more  condensed, 
and  for  this  purpose  the  so-called  "  Steiger 
tracts"*  may  be  recommended.  For  a 
few  cents  apiece  every  member  of  the  club 
might  be  supplied  with  a  set  of  these  leaf- 
lets, which  could  then  be  studied  in  com- 
mon. It  might,  perhaps,  be  well  to  appor- 
tion them  among  the  members,  requiring 
each  person  to  study  a  certain  one  carefully 
at  home,  to  become  sufficiently  familiar 
with  its  arguments  to  repeat  them  at  the 
meeting,  and  be  prepared  to  read  and  ex- 
plain the  more  important  paragraphs. 
When  these  are  thoroughly  digested  other 
leaflets  and  essays  may  be  obtained  at 
trifling  cost  from  publishing  firms  that 
make  a  specialty  of  kindergarten  litera- 
ture, f 

*  E.  Steiger  &  Co.,  25  Park  Place,  New  York. 
Twenty-seven  tracts  for  ten  cents. 

f  Kindergarten  Literature  Co.,  Woman's  Tem- 
ple, Chicago,  Illinois. 

9 


The   Kindergarten 

The  Cooperation  of  Both  Parents  Needed 
Up  to  this  time  the  mothers  have  done 
all  the  work  in  this  neighbourhood  enter- 
prise; they  have  taken  the  initiative,  as  it 
is  their  duty  and  their  right  to  do  in  any 
social  movement,  especially  one  concerned 
primarily  with  the  nurture  and  training 
of  children,  but  we  must  remember  that 
Froebel  built  his  hopes  for  the  regenera- 
tion of  the  human  race  on  the  evolution  of 
the  ideal  family,  and  for  that  family  two 
parents  are  needed.  We  have  reached  the 
stage  where  the  cooperation  of  men  is  nec- 
essary and  desirable,  and  we  want  to  open 
their  eyes  to  some  of  the  new  truths  we 
have  been  considering.  A  general  meet- 
ing for  the  whole  community  would  now 
be  advisable,  the  most  effective  readers  and 
speakers  in  the  Study  Club  being  selected 
to  present  the  various  arguments  for  the 
kindergarten  as  a  training  for  children  and 
a  study  for  women.  This  would,  perhaps, 
be  none  too  easy  a  task  for  a  person  unac- 
customed to  public,  or  semi-public,  speak- 
ing, but  the  members  of  such  a  club  as  we 
describe  would,  from  the  very  circum- 
10 


In  a  Nutshell 

stances  of  the  case,  be  neither  dull,  com- 
monplace, nor  light-minded.  If  they  were 
any  of  these  things,  it  would  never  have 
occurred  to  them  to  begin  the  study  of 
the  kindergarten,  or,  having  opened  the 
door,  they  would  have  fainted  on  the 
threshold. 

Meetings  to  Study  the  Kindergarten 

The  best  results,  in  the  awakening  of 
public  interest,  may  be  expected  to  follow 
these  general  meetings,  if  successful,  and 
they  should  be  continued  at  regular  inter- 
nals that  men  and  women  may  keep  pace 
in  interest  in  and  study  of  this  new  and 
vital  question.  It  should  be  seen  to,  how- 
ever, that  such  gatherings  do  not  become 
the  dry  and  bloodless  affairs  which  too 
often  pose  as  educational  conferences.  The 
subject  of  education  in  itself  is  certainly  a 
vitally  interesting  one  to  every  thoughtful 
mind,  both  on  its  theoretical  and  its  prac- 
tical sides,  but  there  is  nothing  about  which 
people  can  so  prose  if  they  are  allowed,  and 
about  which  they  can  present  such  tiresome 
arrays  of  cut-and-dried  statements,  worn- 
11 


The   Kindergarten 

out  facts,  and  trite  reflections.  Let  us 
have  the  programmes  of  our  neighbourhood 
meetings  brief  and  bright,  then,  that  our 
masculine  guests  be  not  overwearied  in 
spirit  ere  the  race  is  fairly  begun.  We  score 
one  point  in  the  beginning,  perhaps,  for  un- 
less enthusiasm  over  one's  specialty  clouds 
the  judgment,  there  is  a  shade  more  interest 
in  the  kindergarten  among  people  gener- 
ally than  in  other  stages  of  early  education. 
There  seems,  at  least,  to  be  much  greater 
warmth  of  feeling,  both  for  and  against  the 
system,  much  more  readable  literature  on 
the  subject,  and  a  larger  attendance  on 
public  kindergarten  conferences  than  can 
be  claimed  by  those  interested  in  primary 
school  work,  for  instance.  Whether  this 
is  caused  by  the  fervency  of  spirit  of  the 
kindergartner,  the  arresting  and  compel- 
ling nature  of  Froebel's  philosophy,  or  the 
superior  attractions  of  the  very  little  child 
we  need  not  attempt  to  decide,  but  we  may 
thankfully  accept  the  fact,  if  indeed  it  be 
one,  and  rejoice  in  any  happy  circumstance 
which  gives  to  men  a  more  intimate  knowl- 
edge of  the  younglings  of  the  flock,  with 
12 


In  a   Nutshell 

whom,   from  the   nature  of  things,  they 
come  so  little  in  contact. 

The  Kindergarten  Bible  Must  be  Studied 

When  the  leaflets  mentioned  above  have 
been  thoroughly  studied  it  is  time  to  begin 
the  reading  and  discussion  of  books  upon 
the  kindergarten,  and  full,  descriptive  cat- 
alogues of  the  most  helpful  among  these 
volumes  can  easily  be  obtained  from  edu- 
cational publishers.  Whatever  else  is  used 
or  neglected,  however,  FroebePs  "  Mother- 
Play  "  (Mutter-und-Kose-Lieder),  the  kin- 
dergarten Bible,  must  first  be  taken  up  and 
read,  studied,  discussed,  thought  upon,  and 
pondered  over,  till  the  truths  it  holds  have 
taken  root  in  heart  and  life.  The  book  is 
absolutely  unique  in  literature;  it  had  no 
predecessors  and  has  had  no  descendants; 
therefore  it  may  well  be  that  some  things 
about  it  will  at  first  strike  the  reader  as 
vaguely  metaphysical,  or  out  of  proportion, 
or  sentimental,  or  overwrought — even,  per- 
haps, as  grotesque.  But  withhold  your 
judgment,  turn  its  pages  with  open  mind 
and  reverent  spirit,  and  by  and  by,  iricom- 
13 


The   Kindergarten 

pany  with  all  true-hearted  women  who  have 
ever  read  it  seriously,  you  will  acknowl- 
edge it  as  an  interpreter  of  life  and  a  key  to 
its  problems. 

There  are  now  three  magazines  in  the 
United  States  devoted  to  the  kindergarten, 
and  each  one  of  these  is  either  conducting 
a  course  in  the  study  of  the  "  Mother- 
Play,"  or  giving  comments  upon  the  book 
with  original  illustrative  poems.  Any  or 
all  of  these  magazines  would  be  found  most 
helpful,  both  on  the  theoretical  and  practi- 
cal sides  of  kindergarten  work,  and  Study 
Clubs  might  subscribe  to  at  least  two,  if  not 
all  three  of  them,  and  constantly  use  them 
for  private  study  and  general  discussion. 

Practical  Work 

As  the  work  of  the  Clubs  progresses 
from  the  general  to  the  particular,  in  the 
order  to  be  suggested  in  this  handbook, 
taking  up  in  succession  the  various  in- 
strumentalities of  education  used  in  the 
kindergarten — gifts,  occupations,  songs, 
plays,  and  stories — it  is  supposed  that  the 
members  will  give  as  much  time  and  study 
14 


In  a   Nutshell 

as  they  find  possible  both  to  the  book  itself, 
to  the  leaflets  recommended,  and  to  kin- 
dergarten literature  in  general.  When  the 
simple  course  of  study  is  finished  its  fol- 
lowers will  have  taken  only  the  first  steps 
in  kindergarten  training,  but  it  may  be 
that  one  among  them  will  feel  that  she  has 
gained  enough  knowledge  to  make  a  tenta- 
tive beginning  in  teaching  the  neighbour- 
hood children. 

If  she  can  and  will  gather  them  together 
for  two  or  three  hours  every  morning,  and 
with  the  help  and  advice  of  other  members 
of  the  club  try  the  practical  application  of 
some  of  the  principles  they  have  been 
studying,  it  is  probable,  if  she  loves  and 
understands  children,  that  an  encouraging 
degree  of  success  will  attend  her  labours. 
She  could  do  no  harm,  at  least,  with  some 
of  the  Froebel  occupations — sewing,  weav- 
ing, and  modelling  in  clay,  for  instance; 
she  could  delight  her  little  pupils  with  sim- 
ple talks  and  stories,  and  if  she  had  any 
musical  ability  she  could  teach  them  some 
of  the  standard  kindergarten  songs  and 
plays. 


The   Kindergarten 

Care  in  Selecting  the  Kindergartner 

It  may  be,  if  the  community  is  large 
enough,  that  this  modest  beginning,  her- 
alded by  those  eager  missionaries,  the  chil- 
dren, will  awaken  so  much  interest  that 
the  services  of  a  trained  kindergartner  can 
be  engaged.  Let  much  wisdom  and  dis- 
cretion be  employed  in  selecting  this  kin- 
dergartner, and  let  it  be  understood  that 
she  must  be  not  only  a  graduate  of  a  good 
training  school,  but  a  good  woman  also,  one 
whose  heart  and  soul  have  been  awakened, 
as  well  as  her  mind  instructed,  in  the  truth 
as  it  is  in  Froebel. 

It  has  been  often  said,  so  often  that  we 
weary  at  the  sound,  that  character-build- 
ing is  and  should  be  the  essential  aim  of 
education,  but  it  is,  unfortunately,  the  ten- 
dency of  truth  to  become  truism.  The 
fact  that  two  and  two  make  four  was 
doubtless  familiar  to  Noah,  and  imparted 
by  the  object-lesson  method  to  Shem,  Ham, 
and  Japhet  in  the  ark,  but  the  knowledge 
is  just  as  useful  to-day,  and  must  be  taught, 
explained,  and  illustrated  to  people  if  they 
have  not  discovered  it  for  themselves.  • 
16 


In  a  Nutshell 

We  cannot  insist  too  much  upon  the 
truth  that  he  who  has  never  builded 
character  for  himself  can  hardly  be  ex- 
pected to  build  it  in  others3  and  it  is  for 
this  reason  that  the  personality  of  the 
kindergartner  is  so  all-important  a  mat- 
ter. It  is  as  Stevenson  said:  "  A  spirit 
communicated  is  a  perpetual  possession. 
These  best  teachers  climb  beyond  teach- 
ing to  the  plane  of  art ;  it  is  themselves 
and  what  is  best  in  themselves  that  they 
communicate." 

Cooperation  in  this  kindergarten  work 
need  not  of  course  be  confined  to  the 
parents  of  the  community.,  for  any  one  in- 
terested in  education  may,  by  the  payment 
of  a  subscription,  secure  the  admission  of 
a  little  protege,  the  expenses  of  whose  tui- 
tion could  not  otherwise  be  met.  It  would 
be  easy,  too,  to  interest  the  church  in  the 
work — for  it  can  be  clearly  proved  that 
there  is  no  better  missionary  enterprise — 
and  persuade  it  to  contribute  to  the  sup- 
port of  the  new  movement  or  furnish,  if 
nothing  more,  a  room  where  the  children 
may  be  gathered. 

2  17 

: 


The   Kindergarten 

Where  the  Neighbourhood  is  Large  Enough 
If  the  neighbourhood  is  large  enough  to 
have  a  public  school  building,  and  there  is 
an  unused  room  therein,  the  authorities 
may  perhaps  be  willing  to  lend  it  to  the 
kindergarten,  and  here,  side  by  side  with 
the  primary  school,  is  really  its  ideal  loca- 
tion, both  because  it  is  thus  related  to  pub- 
lic education,  of  which  it  forms  the  initial 
stage,  and  because  the  older  children  may 
then  easily  serve  as  escorts  and  guardians 
to  their  younger  brothers  and  sisters. 

There  is  nothing  more  valuable  to  neigh- 
bourhood life  than  a  kindergarten — no,  not 
even  the  church  itself,  of  whose  work  it 
should  always  be  a  part.  It  supplies  a 
centre  for  social  activity,  a  nucleus  around 
which  may  gather  some  of  the  best  and 
highest  interests  of  the  community.  It  is 
folly  to  think,  if  you  are  childless,  that 
you  have  no  concern  in  the  matter,  for  it 
is  one  of  general  interest,  and  is  the  busi- 
ness of  every  public-spirited  man  and 
woman.  You  might  as  well  refuse  to  give 
your  support  to  the  almshouse  because 
none  of  your  relatives  are  indigent,  or  deny 
18 


In  a   Nutshell 

the  necessity  of  a  public  library  because 
you  happen  to  be  blind. 

The  kindergarten  is  most  valuable  to  the 
life  of  to-day  because  of  the  social  training 
it  gives.  There  is  great  danger  in  isolat- 
ing children  and  in  bringing  them  up  too 
exclusively  in  the  company  of  grown  peo- 
ple. They  need  the  society  of  their  equals 
as  much  as  we  who  are  older,  and  they 
must  learn  by  absolute  contact  with  their 
fellows  the  interdependence  of  all  life,  and 
the  fact  that  we  are  members  one  of  an- 
other. Every  exercise  of  the  kindergarten 
is  of  a  social  nature,  and  the  child  is  only 
separated  from  his  playmates  when  he  has 
transgressed  the  laws  which  teach  that  the 
pursuit  of  his  own  happiness  and  the  en- 
joyment of  his  own  liberty  are  dependent 
upon  his  allowing  the  same  rights  to  his 
companions. 

Cultivating  the  Child's  Religious  Nature 
The  kindergarten,  too,  cultivates  the  re- 
ligious nature  in  a  manner  suitable  to  child- 
hood, and  the   principles   on  which  this 
training  is  based  need  no  interpretation  by 
19 


The  Kindergarten 

a  kindergartner,  but  can  be  understood 
arid  developed  by  any  thoughtful,  earnest 
woman.  This  religious  nurture  has  noth- 
ing whatever  to  do  with  sects,  and  need 
not  be  objected  to  by  Buddhist,  Brahmin, 
Confucian,  or  Hebrew,  by  no  one,  in  fact, 
save  the  atheist,  for  it  is  an  awakening  of 
the  spiritual  nature,  a  development  of  the 
powers  of  love,  reverence  and  aspiration, 
and  a  turning  of  the  soul  toward  God,  as 
the  flower  to  the  sun. 

Froebel  also  believed  that  the  child 
should  be  led  to  the  love  and  appreciation 
of  Nature  and  the  life  of  Nature  by  the 
care  and  protection  of  pet  animals,  the 
sowing  of  seeds,  the  tending  of  plants,  and 
the  gathering  of  their  fruits  and  flowers, 
and  this  province  of  kindergarten  work  is 
obviously  within  the  power  of  any  intelli- 
gent person  to  conduct,  and  furnishes  a 
most  important  part  of  the  training  of 
children. 

All  these  things,  so  feeble  in  the  telling, 

so  mighty  in  the  working,  are  within  your 

reach,  dear  women,  everywhere.    You  need 

but  to  stretch  out  your  hands  and  they  are 

20 


In  a  Nutshell 

yours  and  your  children's.  If  for  their 
sakes  you  will  give  yourselves  to  the  study 
of  the  kindergarten  the  next  generation 
will  indeed  begin  the  history  of  the  world 
anew. 


21 


The   Kindergarten 
CHAPTER  II 

WHAT   SHALL   WE    PLAY    WITH  ? 

THEKE  is,  perhaps,  no  educational  opin- 
ion which  is  more  firmly  fixed  in  the  pop- 
ular mind  than  that  the  earlier  a  child  is 
taught  to  read  the  more  it  will  redound  to 
his  present  good,  to  his  future  glory,  and 
to  the  welfare  of  his  country;  and  there  is 
certainly  no  other  belief  of  its  size  and  en- 
during quality  which  is,  on  the  whole, 
more  pernicious. 

It  is  passing  away,  no  doubt,  especially 
among  thinking  people,  but  not  so  fast 
that  it  does  not  still  form  a  stumbling- 
block  in  the  path  of  the  much-enduring 
kindergartner.  We  are  credibly  informed 
that  many  of  our  New  England  progeni- 
tors at  the  beginning  of  this  century  could 
read  the  Bible  with  comparative  fluency  at 
three  years  of  age,  but  although  properly 
astonished  at  the  impressive  fact,  we  can- 
not help  feeling  that  we  should  probably 


In  a   Nutshell 

have  been  able  to  carry  on  the  study  of  the 
good  Book  a  little  later  if  our  ancestors  had 
not  begun  with  it  so  early,  and  we  question 
whether  the  brain  force  of  the  children 
might  not  have  been  better  able  to  cope 
with  the  tasks  of  to-day  if  their  fathers  and 
mothers  had  studied  things  more,  and 
words  less,  in  the  past. 

Children  Must  Learn  the  Alphabet  of  Things 
Froebel  said,  and  many  great  teachers 
before  and  after  him  have  expressed  the 
same  thought,  that  the  A  B  C  of  things 
must  precede  the  A  B  C  of  words,  and  give 
to  the  words  their  true  foundations,  which 
means,  being  interpreted,  that  we  must 
know  the  alphabet  of  things,  so  that  we  can 
begin  to  spell  out  the  world  a  little,  before 
we  are  set  to  learn  book  lessons. 

There  is  little  that  is  valuable  or  life-giv- 
ing in  the  ordinary  primer  and  first  reader 
of  the  schools;  there  is  little  that  appeals 
to  the  interest  of  the  child  in  vowel  sounds 
and  diacritical  marks,  and  he  can  very  well 
afford  to  defer  the  dramatic  interest  of  tales 
concerning  the  cat,  the  mat,  and  the  rat, 
23 


The   Kindergarten 

the  fan,  the  pan,  anfl  the  man,  until  a  time 
when  he  can  pass  over  them  more  quickly, 
regarding  them  not  as  ends  in  themselves, 
but  as  stepping-stones  to  something  better. 
The  first  six  years  of  life  are  all  too  short 
for  what  is  to  be  learned  in  them  outside 
of  the  domain  of  book-knowledge,  and 
upon  the  depth,  the  strength,  the  extent, 
and  the  wholesomeness  of  these  early  im- 
pressions depend  the  depth,  the  strength, 
the  extent,  and  the  wholesomeness  of  later 
knowledge  and  being. 

Froebel  believed  that  the  child  should 
be  taught  the  full  use  of  the  members  of 
his  body  and  of  his  senses,  that  his  faculty 
of  speech  should  be  trained,  the  powers  of 
his  mind  and  heart  somewhat  developed 
by  the  study  of  the  things  about  him  and 
their  relations  to  himself,  before  he  was  in- 
troduced to  the  conventional  learning  of 
the  schools — that  is,  to  dealing  with  signs 
and  symbols  for  things  instead  of  the  things 
themselves.  He  therefore  worked  out  a 
connected  series  of  objects  which  we  call 
the  gifts — legacies  he  bestowed  upon  the 
children  of  mankind,  which  it  was  his  be- 
24 


Ill  a   Nutshell 

lief  would,  if  properly  used,  not  only  give 
all  the  preliminary  ideas  necessary  to  the 
understanding  of  concrete  things,  but  lay 
the  foundation  for  abstract  knowledge  also. 
This  is  teaching  by  means  of  objects,  you 
say,  and  is  certainly  nothing  new.  Quite 
true;  it  is  as  old  as  the  Garden  of  Eden, 
but  though  the  idea  itself  may  be  old,  there 
are  inspired  novelties  in  the  manner  of  its 
presentation. 

How  the  Child  is  Taught  to  Use  the  Gifts 
What  clear  conceptions  must  the  child 
have  before  he  can  understand  even  so  sim- 
ple an  object  as  his  rubber  ball :  what  do 
his  experiments  from  the  time  he  is  able 
to  "take  notice"  show  that  he  is  trying 
to  find  out  ? 

First,  such  large  general  facts  as  form, 
colour,  motion,  size,  material,  direction,  po- 
sition, and,  a  little  later  perhaps,  number, 
weight,  dimension,  and  divisibility.  He 
would  doubtless  discover  all  these  things 
eventually  if  left  to  himself  and  given  full 
liberty  to  experiment,  but  we  claim  that 

Kthe  objects  called  the  kindergarten  gifts 
25 


The   Kindergarten 

give  him  the  required  knowledge  in  less 
time  and  in  an  orderly  manner.  They  be- 
gin with  solids,  represented  first  by  woollen 
balls,  then  wooden  balls,  cubes,  and  cylin- 
ders, and  larger  wooden  cubes  divided  in 
various  ways;  next  progress  to  surfaces,  or 
thin  tablets  of  wood  or  pasteboard  of  va- 
rious shapes  ;  then  to  lines,  straight  and 
curved,  shown  by  sticks  of  different  lengths 
and  metal  rings,  and  end  in  points,  which 
may  be  pebbles,  shells,  or  such  seeds  as 
beans,  lentils,  coffee  berries,  or  corn.  The 
materials  of  the  gifts  are  all  simple  enough, 
you  see,  but  the  idea  at  the  foundation  is 
masterly;  for  you  will  perceive,  if  you  ex- 
amine the  series,  that  it  is  so  arranged  as  to 
give  the  child  all  the  conceptions  he  needs 
for  understanding  the  objects  of  the  world 
about  him.  Not  only  this,  but  they  are  all 
connected  one  with  the  other;  there  is  an 
orderly  progression  in  them,  which  begets 
in  the  mind  a  habit  of  seeing  things  in  their 
right  relations  and  interdependent,  as  they 
are  in  life. 


In  a   Nutshell 

Arguments  for  and  against  the  Gifts 
The  gifts,  .as  they  now  exist,  were  care- 
fully worked  out  by  Froebel  after  years  of 
experiment,  and  are  the  result,  not  only 
of  a  thorough  understanding  of  childish 
needs  and  desires,  but  of  a  deep  knowledge 
of  the  sciences,  notably  of  geometry  and 
crystallography,  in  which  he  was  particu- 
larly proficient.  They  do  not  represent  a 
finality  as  they  stand  at  present;  indeed 
many  suggestions  as  to  their  extension  and 
improvement  have  already  been  made, 
though  not  yet  universally  adopted.  It  is 
claimed,  for  instance,  and  this,  impartially 
considered,  seems  to  be  one  of  the  strong- 
est objections  to  them,  that  they  are  not 
large  enough  in  their  present  form  to  give 
complete  pleasure  to  the  child,  and  that 
their  size,  or  want  of  it,  renders  the  work 
at  once  too  petty  and  too  much  of  a  strain 
upon  the  nervous  activities  in  arrange- 
ment, balance,  etc.  Kindergartners  are 
now  everywhere  making  experiments  with 
the  larger  blocks,  which  can  already  be  had 
at  any  kindergarten  supply  store,  and  defi- 
conclusions  will  doubtless  soon  be 


K^iite 


The   Kindergarten 

reached  as  to  their  superiority  in  a  physio- 
logical point  of  view  and  their  supposedly 
greater  attractions  to  the  child. 

Experiments  are  also  being  made  on  ad- 
ditions to  the  chain  of  objects  as  ordinarily 
presented,  on  new  blocks  and  figures  which 
shall  supplement  those  in  use  and  render 
the  series  more  complete.  Many  of  these 
changes  Froebel  himself  suggested,  though 
he  did  not  fully  work  them  out,  and  the 
present  agitation  on  these  subjects  marks 
a  healthy  condition  in  the  kindergarten 
world,  a  feeling  that 

"  He  must  upward  be  and  onward 
Who  would  keep  abreast  of  truth." 

The  Gifts  Appeal  at  Once  to  the  Child 
It  is  our  province,  however,  in  this  little 
manual,  to  consider  the  gifts  as  they  are  at 
present,  not  as  they  may  be,  or  perhaps 
some  time  will  be,  and  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting things  about  this  series  of  ob- 
jects is  the  way  in  which  they  are  used. 

They  would  appeal  at  once  to  any  child 
who  saw  them  laid  out  upon  a  table,  as 
being    most    appropriate    and    delightful 
28 


In  a  Nutshell 

playthings;  they  would  so  appeal  to  most 
adults,  probably,  and  grown-up  fingers 
would  stretch  out  instinctively  to  the 
bright  colours,  the  smooth  surfaces,  the 
shining  steel,  the  deftly  divided  blocks, 
the  fascinating  bits  of  cardboard,  the 
shapely  geometric  figures.  "Why,  this 
will  bounce,  and  that  will  roll,  and  these 
will  build  houses,  and  these  roofs,  and  these 
pillars,"  cries  the  child;  "and  here  are 
pretty  colours  and  shapes  to  make  kaleido- 
scope figures,  and  here  rings  and  bright 
sticks  to  lay  pictures  on  the  table!  " 

This  is  the  result  of  the  first  glance 
merely,  of  a  cursory  examination,  for  only 
extended  study  and  experience  can  tell 
what  these  simple  objects,  if  rightly  used, 
can  do  for  the  whole  being  of  the  child. 

If  we  think  only  of  the  intellectual  value 
of  these  playthings,  we  see  that  by  the  use 
of  the  first  (six  worsted  balls)  the  pupil 
cannot  help  gaining  an  idea  of  colour, 
form,  and  material,  and,  by  the  various 
plays  connected  with  it,  motion,  direction, 
and  position. 

IWith  the  second  (wooden  sphere,  cube, 
z 


The   Kindergarten 

and  cylinder),  form  is  even  more  strongly 
accentuated  because  of  the  contrasts  shown; 
material  is  noticed,  number  introduced, 
and  the  reasons  for  rest  As  well  as  motion 
dwelt  upon. 

Next  come  the  building  gifts,  third, 
fourth,  fifth,  and  sixth  (wooden  cubes  of 
two  sizes,  cut  in.  various  ways),  and  here 
enter,  of  necessity,  great  varieties  of  form, 
8ize,  dimension,  relation,  position,  divisi- 
bility, and  an  extended  knowledge  of  num- 
ber, progressing  as  far  as  fractions. 

The  Child  Soon  Learns  to  Investigate 
The  chief  joy  of  these  cubes  to  the  child 
is  the  opportunity  they  afford  him  for 
investigation,  for  the  satisfaction  of  his 
healthy  desire  to  take  things  apart  and  put 
them  together  again.  He  can  divide  the 
blocks  to  his  heart's  content  and  find  out 
how  k£  the  wheels  go  wound,'*  and  he  can 
build  them  up  again  into  all  sorts  of  forms, 
and  thus  gratify  his  imagination  and  his 
constructive  instinct.  It  is  because  we  give 
the  little  one  no  opportunity  to  build  up 
that  he  is  so  prone  to  destroy.  He  has  no 
30 


In  a  Nutshell 

evil  desire  to  tear  things  to  pieces,  merely 
for  the  joy  of  destruction;  he  would  far 
rather  be  a  maker,  a  doer,  a  creator,  if 
opportunity  were  given  him — witness  the 
intense  childish  joy  in  Eobinson  Crusoe 
and  his  achievements,  and  the  longing 
that  springs  in  every  youthful  breast  to 
share  that  hero's  unexampled  advantages. 
The  baby  of  three  or  four  years  feels  the 
same  longing  in  the  bud,  as  it  were, 
and  these  divided  blocks  assist  him  to 
gratify  it. 

With  the  seventh  gift  the  child  begins  to 
work  with  plane  surfaces,  using  circular, 
square,  and  triangular  tablets  of  wood  or 
pasteboard,  both  coloured  and  uncoloured. 
There  is  an  admirable  opportunity  here 
for  gaining  knowledge  about  plane  geom- 
etry both  in  the  forms  themselves  and  in 
combination,  and  further  experiment  with 
colours  is  made  possible. 

Then  come  straight  lines  (sticks  of  the 
eighth  gift),  curved  lines  (metal  rings  of 
the  ninth),  and  the  points  of  the  tenth 
gift,  gradually  eliminating  one  dimension 
after  another,  or  approximating  thereto, 
31 


The   Kindergarten 

putting  off  the  body  and  taking  on  the 
spirit,  as  it  were. 

\ 
Invention 

During  the  entire  time  the  child  is  using 
this  connected  series  of  objects  he  is  en- 
couraged to  make  something  new  with  each 
one,  something  which  shall  be  all  his  own, 
and  this  insistence  upon  invention  is  a  dis- 
tinctive feature  of  the  kindergarten.  He 
is  never  to  be  content  with  the  examination 
and  study  of  his  blocks,  not  even  to  be  con- 
tent with  following  the  suggestions  and 
directions  which  the  kindergartner  gives 
for  building,  but  when  this  is  over  he  is  to 
make  something  himself,  either  a  copy  of 
an  object  connected  with  his  daily  life  or  a 
symmetrical  figure  that  pleases  his  fancy. 
Man  is  only  of  value,  says  the  kindergar- 
ten (and  herein  it  differs  from  any  other 
system  of  object-teaching),  as  he  is  en- 
abled to  become  a  useful,  productive 
member  of  society,  and  to  that  end  his 
individuality  and  his  power  of  self-expres- 
sion must  be  fostered  from  the  beginning 
of  life. 


In  a  Nutshell 

The  Gift-Plays  Train  the  Faculties 
All  the  gift-plays,  too,  train  the  faculty 
of  speech,  for  there  is  constant  question 
and  answer,  comment  and  observation 
while  using  them.  Pleasant  incidents  and 
stories  are  told  also,  and  the  child  is  en- 
couraged to  express  his  own  ideas  and  fan- 
cies as  far  as  his  small  powers  admit.  This 
procedure  develops  the  imagination,  so 
strong  a  power  in  childhood  and  so  valua- 
ble a  factor  in  mental  and  spiritual  growth, 
and  turns  it  into  a  useful  channel. 

We  are  accustomed  to  say  that  the  kin- 
dergarten is  a  school  of  the  moralities,  and 
no  one  can  watch  a  group  of  children  at 
work  with  the  gifts  without  noting  that 
the  ordinary,  humdrum  but  useful  virtues 
of  industry,  economy,  perseverance,  and 
carefulness  are  in  close  attendance  upon 
each  small  worker,  and  that  he  cannot  dis- 
pense with  their  aid.  However  skeptical 
one  may  be  as  to  the  value  of  these  objects 
in  general,  he  cannot  fail  to  acknowledge 
their  worth  as  a  preparation  for  later  school 
work,  and  practical,  hard-headed  persons, 
who  are  disposed  to  think  there  must  be 
3  33 


The   Kindergarten 

something  wrong  with  the  kindergarten  be- 
cause it  is  so  agreeable  to  the  child,  are  often 
converted  when  they  are  made  to  see  how 
perfectly  the  form  and  number  work  pre- 
pare for  geometry  and  arithmetic;  how  the 
training  of  the  hand  in  the  various  employ- 
ments makes  writing  a  simple  matter,  and 
how  the  constant  education  of  the  eye  in 
dealing  with  distances,  spaces,  and  lengths, 
judging  and  comparing  differing  lines,  an- 
gles, and  designs,  is  an  absolute  prepara- 
tion for  learning  to  read.  If  the  limits  of 
a  handbook  admitted,  a  great  deal  might 
be  said  as  to  the  bearing  of  the  gifts  on 
more  advanced  studies,  of  the  side-lights 
they  give  on  philosophy  and  architecture, 
of  the  special  way  in  which  they  address 
the  judgment  and  the  reasoning  faculty, 
and  a  volume  might  easily  be  written  on 
their  connection  with  the  arts  and  indus- 
tries. 

All  these  subjects,  however,  can  only  be 
suggested  here  in  the  hope  that  the  Study 
Clubs,  projected  in  the  first  chapter,  may 
take  them  as  texts  for  sermons  which  ex- 
perience will  enable  them  to  write,  and 
34 


In  a   Nutshell 

which  they  can  use  for  the  awakening  of 
enthusiasm  in  the  community  of  which 
they  form  a  part. 

The  Motto  of  tne  Kindergarten  Gifts 
One  more  word  on  a  supremely  valuable 
feature  of  the  gift  exercises  must  be  said 
just  here,  however,  and  that  is  on  the  op- 
portunity they  offer  for  concerted  action. 
If  the  kindergartner  or  mother  who  con- 
ducts them  allows  each  child  to  work  alone, 
intent  upon  the  perfecting  of  his  own  de- 
sires, without  thought  for  others,  without 
consideration  of  the  common  welfare,  she 
neglects  the  highest  opportunity  for  good 
which  any  system  of  education  can  offer. 

The  "together  spirit"  is  the  key-note 
of  the  age,  not  less  than  the  motto  of  the 
American  people;  and  Froebel  shows  his 
wonderful  foresight,  his  prescience  of  the 
needs  of  a  coming  time,  when  he  makes 
provision  for  cooperation  even  in  the  play- 
work  he  devised  for  the  veriest  babies. 
Whether  they  build  a  village  together, 
whether  they  mass  their  sticks  or  tablets 
to  form  a  common  design,  whether  they 
35 


The   Kindergarten 

construct  something  to  please  the  smaller 
children,  who  are  not  so  deft  in  handling 
the  material,  whether  they  combine  their 
taste  and  skill  in  decorating  the  room,  still 
this  thought,  "  Each  for  all,  and  all  for 
•each,"  must  constantly  be  kept  in  mind  if 
kindergarten  work  is  really  to  develop  the 
spiritual  nature  of  the  child  and  prepare 
him  for  ideal  citizenship,  as  it  claims  to 
do.* 

Gifts  Which  May  be  Used  at  Home 

The  question  is  often  asked  whether 
these  playthings  may  be  used  in  the  home, 
and  which  of  them  are  best  adapted  to  the 
purpose.  To  begin  with,  the  first  gift  (six 
soft  worsted  balls  in  the  colours  of  the  spec- 
trum— red,  yellow,  blue,  green,  orange, 
and  violet)  was  intended  by  Froebel  for 
nursery  use,  and  he  gives  in  the  "  Peda- 
gogics of  the  Kindergarten  "  and  in  his 
"Letters'*  many  wise  and  practical  sug- 
gestions for  dealing  with  it.  There  are 
many  ball  plays,  too,  outlined  in  the  kin- 

*  Practical  suggestions  for  group  work  under 
•each  gift  and  each  occupation  are  to  be  found  in 
"  The  Republic  of  Childhood,"  Vols.  I  and  II. 
30 


In  a  Nutshell 

dergarten  guides,  and  any  intelligent 
mother  who  has  the  true  play  spirit  can 
adapt  the  exercises  to  her  own  conditions 
and  her  personal  needs. 

Lessons  in  Form  and  Colour 
The  second  gift  (wooden  sphere,  cube, 
and  cylinder)  requires  somewhat  more  work 
and  thought  to  make  it  useful  and  inter- 
esting, though  all  children  are  delighted 
with  the  plays  which  show  the  three  forms 
whirling  on  their  different  axes,  disclosing 
surprises  in  the  shape  of  new  geometric  fig- 
ures revolving  within.  Then  there  are  the 
second  gift  beads — tiny  wooden  reproduc- 
tions of  the  three  type-forms  (coloured  and 
uncoloared)  —  which  furnish  delightful 
nursery  occupations,  assorting  them  ac- 
cording to  form  and  colour,  stringing  them 
on  stout  shoe-laces  in  various  ways,  and  us- 
ing them,  with  sticks  thrust  through  their 
holes,  for  soldiers,  and  children,  and  fence- 
posts,  and  trees,  and  telegraph  poles,  and 
what  not. 

For  the  building-blocks,  the  sticks,  the 
rings,  and  the  points,  tables  are  necessary, 
37 


The   Kindergarten 

either  marked  off  in  inch  squares,  or  cov- 
ered with  squared  oilcloth,  which  may  be 
bought  at  the  kindergarten  supply  stores. 
The  fifth,  sixth,  and  seventh  gifts  are  much 
more  difficult  than  the  others,  and  contain 
such  wonderful  capabilities  for  building 
and  advanced  geometrical  work  that  it 
would  be  best,  perhaps,  to  leave  them  to  the 
management  of  a  trained  kindergartner. 

The  cubes  and  bricks  of  the  first  two 
building  gifts,  the  eighth,  ninth,  and  tenth 
gifts  (sticks,  rings,  and  points),  may  very 
well  be  used  in  the  nursery  in  simple  exer- 
cises, manifold  suggestions  for  which  may 
be  found  in  all  technical  books  on  the 
kindergarten.  All  these  objects  are  inex- 
pensive, but  the  balls  may  easily  be  made 
at  home,  a  sample  set  being  purchased  to 
show  the  size  and  exact  colours ;  the 
sphere,  cube,  and  cylinder  may  be  turned 
out  by  any  man  who  can  use  a  lathe  if 
the  requisite  dimensions  are  given,  and 
even  the  cubes  and  bricks  of  the  third  and 
fourth  gifts  may  be  made  by  the  father  of 
the  family  if  he  is  a  good  tool-worker. 

All  these  blocks  must  be  thoroughly  well 
38 


In  a   Nutshell 

made,,  however;  the  proportions  muse  i>e 
perfect  and  the  surfaces  carefully  finished, 
or  there  will  be  great  difficulty  of  balance 
and  consequent  distress  when  the  children 
are  using  them.  More  than  this,  exact- 
ness and  accuracy  are  insisted  upon  in 
every  kindergarten  exercise,  and  it  would 
be  impossible  to  require  them  of  the  pupils 
unless  exact  and  accurate  materials  were 
furnished. 

The  results  from  the  gift  work  will  un- 
doubtedly be  much  more  satisfactory  if  it 
is  conducted  by  a  good  kindergartner  ;  but 
if  the  organisation  of  a  kindergarten  is  a 
matter  which  must  be  left  until  there  is 
sufficient  public  interest  to  demand  one, 
the  children  of  the  neighbourhood  need  not 
therefore  be  deprived  of  all  the  advantages 
which  come  from  this  cunningly  devised 
series  of  objects. 

The  members  of  the  Study  Club  must 
take  up  the  gifts  and  give  them  serious  and 
thoughtful  attention;  each  little  object,  no 
matter  how  trifling  it  may  seem,  must  be 
considered  not  only  in  itself  but  in  its  re- 
lation to  what  has  preceded  and  what  will 
39 


The   Kindergarten 

follow  it;  there  must  be  clear  understand- 
ing of  its  special  uses  and  of  its  worth  to 
the  child,  or  little  good  can  come  of  its 
employment. 

All  the  students,  whether  they  are  to 
use  them  at  home  or  not,  should  handle 
and  become  familiar  withm  the  objects, 
should  follow  sequences  and  dictations  and 
devise  new  figures  and  combinations  with 
the  different  materials.  That  was  a  wise 
remark  of  Lord  Bacon 's,  that  it  takes  much 
knowledge  and  wisdom  to  impart  the  right 
little  successfully,  and  it  is  of  application 
here. 

Introduce  the  Gifts  Step  by  Step 

Finally,  if  the  gifts  are  employed  in  the 
nursery,  see  to  it  that  they  are  introduced 
consecutively,  step  by  step,  never  taking 
up  a  new  object  until  a  fair  knowledge  of 
the  last  one  has  been  gained,  and  then 
using  the  two  together  for  a  season;  see  to 
it  that  each  day's  play  has  a  purpose  be- 
hind it,  and  is  both  hand-work  and  head- 
work,  not  the  former  alone;  reserve  a 
special  time  for  using  the  playthings,  and, 
lest  too  great  familiarity  breed  contempt, 
40 


I 


In  a  Nutshell 

have  them  put  away  carefully  when  the 
period  has  expired;  insist,  also,  that  the 
building-blocks  be  put  together  into  their 
original  form  before  the  box  is  turned  over 
them,  and  the  balls,  beads,  sticks,  and 
rings  laid  neatly  in  their  trays  or  baskets. 

Eemember  also,  though  the  children  may 
be  busy  with  the  materials,  that  there  is  a 
great  deal  of  difference,  as  Froebel  says, 
between  "free  creative  activity  and  aim- 
less, purposeless  activity,"  and  strive  for 
the  busyness  of  the  squirrel  storing  nuts 
for  the  winter,  rather  than  the  restless 
energy  of  the  same  creature  madly  flying 
around  his  wheel. 

And  one  more  thing  remember,  that  it 
is  in  these  baby  exercises  that  we  are  sup- 
posed to  be  forming  habits  of  concentration 
and  attention,  and  to  this  end  we  must  see 
to  it,  before  we  begin  upon  them,  that  every 
child  is  ready  to  hear  and  to  do,  that  he 
has  his  mind  fixed  on  the  thing  in  hand, 
and  that  he  devotes  himself  absolutely  to 
the  brief  play,  whatever  it  may  be,  so  long 
as  it  continues. 

These  are  the  minor  things  to  remem- 
41 


The   Kindergarten 

her,  if  anything  may  be  counted  minor  in 
these  matters,  and  the  major  are  that  the 
gifts  shall  be  so  used  that  not  only  the 
physical  powers  may  be  developed  and  the 
mental  faculties  trained,  but  the  spiritual 
nature  addressed  and  the  whole  human 
creature  given  a  little  upward  impetus  to- 
ward those  things  that  are  pure,  those 
things  that  are  lovely  and  of  good  report. 


42 


In  a  Nutshell 
CHAPTER  III 

WHAT   SHALL   WE    MAKE? 

Do  you  remember,  when  you  were  a 
child,  the  pastimes  you  delighted  in  ?  Do 
you  remember  making  sand-pies,  pricking 
holes  in  paper,  stringing  seeds  and  flowers 
and  nuts,  plaiting  book-marks  and  May- 
baskets,  folding  pussy-cat  stairs,  playing 
cat's  cradle,  drawing  pictures  with  slate 
and  lead  pencil,  cutting  out  figures,  sew- 
ing on  stray  bits  of  cloth  with  your  thread 
tied  into  your  needle  ?  Do  you  remember 
all  these  things,  and,  as  you  read  them  over, 
do  they  not  recall  to  you  happy  summer 
mornings  out  of  doors,  busy  rainy  days  by 
mother's  side,  and  bright,  firelit  evenings 
when  you  watched  in  delighted  admiration 
father's  skilful  fingers  as  he  fashioned 
stars  and  rosettes,  and  paper  caps  and  fly- 
traps, and  boats  that  would  sail  ? 

If  you  have  not  forgotten,  if  you  can 
look  back  into  the  past  and  see  again  that 
43 


The  Kindergarten 

child  of  long  ago,  can  recall  his  thoughts 
and  feel  his  heart-throbs,  then,  and  only 
then,  can  you  fully  appreciate  the  happi- 
ness which  the  kindergarten  occupations 
bring  to  the  child  of  to-day.  They  are 
founded  on  the  old  pastimes,  those  which 
are  more  or  less  familiar  to  the  children  of 
every  civilised  country  ;  and  Froebel  gath- 
ered them  up  from  his  own  recollections 
and  from  his  close  observation  of  simple 
German  family  life,  and  transferred  them 
to  the  kindergarten.  There  he  systema- 
tised  them,  cut  out  those  of  little  educa- 
tional value,  arranged  them  in  consecutive 
order,  pruned  here,  introduced  new  feat- 
ures there,  supplied  a  missing  link  in  an- 
other place, until,  after  years  of  experiment, 
he  had  a  complete  series  of  occupations 
based  not  only  on  the  traditional  employ- 
ments of  children,  but — and  this  is  a  note- 
worthy fact — on  the  primitive  arts  and  in- 
dustries of  mankind.  Drawn  from  such  a 
source,  arranged  .by  so  wise  a  thinker,  so 
sympathetic  and  skilled  an  observer  of 
children,  it  is  no  wander  that  the  occupa- 
tions seem  absolutely  to  fit  every  need  and 
44 


In  a   Nutshell 

every  desire  of  the  little  people  of  the  kin- 
dergarten. 

They  stand,  as  Froebel  left  them,  in  the 
following  order,  some,  of  course,  being  of 
much  more  importance  than  others  and 
some  being  little  used  to-day. 

The  Kindergarten  Occupations  Explained 

The  occupation  of  pricking  or  perforat- 
ing is  the  outlining  of  objects,  the  making 
of  lines,  angles,  and  geometrical  forms  on 
paper  or  cardboard  by  means  of  a  stout 
needle  set  in  a  wooden  handle. 

In  sewing,  with  a  blunt  needle  and 
worsteds  of  appropriate  colour,  the  child 
outlines  objects,  lines,  or  pictures  which 
have  been  transferred  to  cardboard  and 
perforated  at  proper  intervals. 

Kindergarten  drawing  is  of  several  kinds : 
the  making  of  lines,  angles,  and  figures  on 
checkered  slates  and  paper;  the  tracing 
around  cardboard  patterns — a  thing  which 
children  always  enjoy,  and  the  purely  free- 
hand work,  or  what  one  might  call  the  first 
steps  in  sketching  from  Nature. 

For  paper-interlacing,  which  is  rather  a 
45 


The   Kindergarten 

a iific ult  employment,  bright  coloured  strips 
a  quarter  of  an  inch  or  more  in  width  and 
a  foot  or  so  long  are  provided.  They  are 
then  doubled  once,  twice,  or  thrice  their 
entire  length  and  folded  into  symmetrical 
figures,  into  which,  when  completed,  other 
or  similar  figures  are  intertwined,  produc- 
ing charming  designs. 

For  slat-interlacing,  thin  strips  of  any 
tough  wood  half  an  incli  wide  and  about 
ten  inches  long  are  used.  At  least  four 
slats  are  needed  to  make  a  complete  figure 
which  will  hold  together  without  pasting 
or  sewing,  but  many  times  this  number 
may  be  used,  and  by  the  employment  of 
different  lengths  and  widths  of  slats,  and 
varying  combinations,  the  figures  may  be 
made  very  pretty  and  even  serviceable. 

Weaving,  Paper  Cutting  and  Folding 

In  weaving,  the  child  is  given  a  square 

or  oblong  mat  of  bright  paper  cut  in  strips 

from  one-half  to  one-eighth  of  an  inch  in 

width,    as   desired,    and,   fastening   other 

strips  of  harmonising  or  contrasting  colours 

into  a  long  steel  needle,  he  runs  them  into 

46 


In  a  Nutshell 

the  mat,  producing  innumerable  charming 
patterns,  which  vary  according  to  the  nu- 
merical combinations  he  uses. 

The  name  paper-cutting  is  self-explana- 
tory, although  the  work  in  the  kindergar- 
ten includes  not  only  cutting  out  pictures, 
but  dividing  squares,  triangles,  and  circles 
according  to  a  regular  system,  and  making 
designs  with  the  pieces. 

In  paper-folding,  the  boats  and  boxes  and 
pin-wheels  of  long  ago  are  made,  and  also 
a  great  quantity  of  flat  and  symmetrical 
figures  which  are  produced  by  very  slight 
changes  from  a  regular  ground-form. 

Peas-Work  and  Clay-Modelling 
The  peas- work  is  really  delightful,  though 
not  at  all  easy,  except  in  its  first  steps. 
Slender,  pointed  sticks  are  used,  and  peas 
which  have  been  soaked  over  night  ;  and 
connecting  the  former  by  the  latter,  skele- 
tons of  geometrical  solids,  and  of  all  kinds 
of  playthings,  as  tools,  carts,  houses,  and 
furniture,  are  very  easily  made. 

Last  comes  the  modelling  in  clay,  which 
needs   no   description — merely  a  word  of 
47 


The   Kindergarten 

tribute  to  the  genius  who  saw  in  this  dear 
delight  of  children  a  means  of  intellectual 
development. 

These  are  the  principal  kindergarten 
occupations.  There  are  others — notably 
bead-stringing,  chain-making,  cardboard- 
modelling,  rolled  strip- work,and  the  thread 
game  ;  and  then  there  is  the  sand-work, 
which  is  so  important  as  really  to  deserve 
a  paper  by  itself. 

Belation  of  the  Occupations  to  the  Gifts 
It  will  be  seen,  as  soon  as  we  begin  to 
study  the  occupations,  that  they  are  closely 
related  to  the  gifts,  using  much  the  same 
materials,  illustrating  the  same  progression 
(although  in  the  opposite  direction)  from 
point  to  line,  line  to  plane,  and  plane  to 
solid,  laying  the  same  stress  upon  relations 
of  form  and  number,  cultivating  some  of 
the  same  virtues,  and  giving  the  same  wide 
opportunities  for  individual  work  or  inven- 
tion. Still  there  are  marked  differences 
between  them,  prominent  among  which  is 
that  the  gift  material  undergoes  no  essen- 
tial change  when  used,  while  change  is  the 
48 


In  a  Nutshell 

first  requisite  in  dealing  with  the  occupa- 
tions. We  may  take  the  blocks  apart  and 
employ  them  as  we  like,  but  at  the  close 
of  the  play  they  are  always  returned  to  the 
original  shape;  in  the  occupation  of  fold- 
ing, on  the  other  hand,  we  begin  to  modify 
the  square,  and  to  bend  it  into  something 
else  as  soon  as  we  take  it  in  our  hands. 

Another  marked  point  of  difference  is 
that  the  ideas  received  through  the  gifts 
are  commonly  worked  out  through  the  oc- 
cupations— that  is,  impression  in  the  one 
becomes  expression  in  the  other. 

It  would  be  folly  to  attempt  any  com- 
parison between  the  respective  values  of 
the  two  series,  for  one  is  really  the  comple- 
ment of  the  other,  and  though  they  travel 
the  same  road,  they  travel  it  in  different 
vehicles.  It  is  easy  to  see,  however,  that 
most  of  the  occupations  may  be  handled 
with  greater  ease  and  simplicity  than  the 
gifts;  that  they  are  more  akin  to  the  em- 
ployments with  which  the  mother  natu- 
rally supplies  her  child,  that  they  require 
somewhat  less  knowledge  and  skill  in  teach- 
ing, and  that  therefore  she  is  less  liable  to 
4  49 


The   Kindergarten 

make  mistakes  in  dealing  with  them.  The 
gifts,  it  is  probable,  are  positively  harmful 
to  the  child  if  they  are  not  handled  in  a 
definite,  serious,  purposeful  way  and  with 
a  knowledge  of  their  possibilities;  but  some 
of  the  occupations  may  be  conducted  by  a 
comparatively  inexperienced  person,  and 
not  only  give  great  pleasure,  but  be  really 
helpful  in  minor  ways,  at  least. 

Changes  in  the  Occupations 
It  has  been  already  said  that  the  occupa- 
tions have  undergone  considerable  modi- 
fication since  Froebel's  day,  and  many  of 
them,  like  the  gifts,  are  now  the  subject 
of  experiment  in  various  kindergarten 
centres. 

Pricking,  for  instance,  on  account  of  the 
eye-strain  attendant  upon  it,  is  almost  out 
of  use;  net- work  drawing,  both  for  the 
above  reason  and  because  it  is  supposed  to 
be  too  mechanical  and  to  lead  to  designing 
rather  than  to  nature- work,  is  also  passing 
away;  the  thread  game,  slat  and  paper  in- 
terlacing, and  peas-work  are  seldom  seen, 
and  the  tendency  in  all  the  remaining  oc- 
50 


In  a  Nutshell 

cupations  is  toward  larger  size  in  materials, 
a  larger  scale  in  designing,  and  greater  free- 
dom in  expression.  Much  of  this  change 
has  heen  rendered  necessary  by  the  in- 
creased knowledge  which  modern  child- 
study  has  given  us  of  the  physical  devel- 
opment of  the  child,  and  the  danger  o*f  too 
early  engaging  him  in  work  demanding 
great  precision  and  dexterity,  small  move- 
ments and  constant  tension  of  the  muscles 
of  the  eye. 

Some  of  the  old-fashioned  pastimes,  how- 
ever, notably  the  thread  game,  slat  and 
peas  work,  are  most  useful  and  delightful 
for  the  home  and  the  nursery,  if  indeed 
their  educational  value  is  not  supposed  to 
warrant  their  admission  to  the  school,  and 
it  is  to  be  understood  that  the  changes  in 
the  occupations,  both  present  and  future, 
are  and  probably  will  be,  not  in  the  line  of 
superseding  them  altogether,  but  of  modi- 
fying and  changing  them  in  accordance 
with  recent  discoveries  in  physiology  and 
psychology. 


51 


The  Kindergarten 

Kindergarten  Work  Trains  the  Hands 

And  when  they  are  developed  to  their 
fullest  extent  and  managed  as  Froebel  in- 
tended, what  may  we  expect  of  them  ?  you 
ask. 

There  is  a  much-used  saying  in  the  kin- 
dergarten that  development  according  to 
Froebel  is  threefold — that  is,  it  includes 
within  its  purpose  something  for  the  body, 
something  for  the  soul,  and  something  for 
the  mind.  We  should  expect,  then,  that 
the  kindergarten  occupations  would  effect 
something  for  the  physical  powers  of  the 
child,  and  we  find  that  they  train  his  arms 
and  hands  and  fingers  so  that  they  become 
deft  servants  of  his  will,  and  not  only  the 
right  hand,  you  understand,  but  the  left, 
too,  for  the  idea  is  to  make  him  ambidex- 
trous. 

In  securing  these  ends  the  mind  receives 
development  also,  and  the  same  thing  is 
true  of  the  eye-training,  which  is,  of  neces- 
sity, partly  mental  and  partly  physical. 

If  we  begin  to  discuss  the  intellectual 
value  of  the  occupations  a  host  of  particu- 
52 


In  a  Nutshell 

lars  rises  before  us,  and  in  the  first  place 
we  may  as  well  disabuse  ourselves  of  the 
too  common  impression  that  all  these  em- 
ployments are  easy  for  the  child,  so  easy 
that  they  are  the  merest  baby-play,  requir- 
ing no  concentration  nor  perseverance,  and 
therefore  making  but  sorry  preparation  for 
the  difficult  work  exacted  in  the  school. 
The  remark  is  made  so  often  in  conversa- 
tion, and  is  so  often  seen  in  print,  that  it 
has  found  lodgment  in  the  public  mind, 
though  indeed  there  is  not  as  much  truth 
in  it  as  could  be  balanced  on  the  point  of 
a  cambric  needle. 

Kindergarten  Work  Also  Trains  the  Mind 
Kindergarten  work  is  always  engrossing, 
delightful,  and  fascinating  to  the  child, 
but  it  is  by  no  means  especially  easy,  and 
he  who  needs  conviction  on  this  point  has 
but  to  give  a  half -hour's  supervision  to  a 
class  engaged  with  any  one  of  the  occupa- 
tions in  order  to  find  out  his  error  and  con- 
fess it  with  tears.  The  statement  is  boldly 
made,  then,  that  the  occupations  demand 
great  concentration  and  attention,  that 
53 


The   Kindergarten 

they  also  demand  observation,  and  con- 
stantly require  comparison  and  judgment. 
If  these  five  faculties,  and  these  alone, 
were  developed  by  their  means,  we  might 
be  satisfied,  but  definite  training  in  colour, 
form,  number,  and  language  is  also  in- 
separable from  the  work.  As  to  the  field 
for  creative  activity,  it  is  so  wide  and  so 
fully  occupied  by  the  children  that  the 
results  can  only  be  appreciated  by  those 
familiar  with  the  kindergarten.  Outsiders 
are  commonly  quite  unwilling  to  believe 
that  such  and  such  designs  presented  for 
their  approbation  could  possibly  have  been 
made  by  babies  of  five  to  six  years,  and 
hint  that  the  kindergartner,  like  the  old- 
fashioned  drawing-master,  must  have  sup- 
plied most  of  the  finishing  touches. 

The  question  is  easily  enough  put  to 
proof,  however,  for  it  is  only  necessary  to 
allow  a  class  free  play  with  any  of  the  ma- 
terials to  see  lovely  results  blossoming  on 
every  table  without  the  least  suggestion 
from  older  persons.  And  why  should  this 
not  be  so  ?  The  seed  was  there,"  the  kin- 
dergarten supplied  the  proper  surround- 
54 


In  a  Nutshell 

ings  for  growth,,  and  in  due  time  the  flower 
bloomed. 

Moral  Bearing  of  the  Occupations 
But  let  us  talk  together  of  the  moral 
bearing  of  the  occupations;  let  us  note  the 
perseverance,  the  neatness,  the  orderliness 
of  each  small  worker;  let  us  observe  how 
careful  and  economical  he  is  in  the  use  of 
all  material;  let  us  admire  his  long-con- 
tinued patience  in  the  face  of  difficulties, 
his  self-restraint  when  failure  makes  fresh 
efforts  necessary.  In  order  to  witness  all 
these  things  in  a  majority  of  the  children, 
one  must,  it  is  true,  visit  a  really  good  kin- 
dergarten ;  but  what  then  ?  Is  not  the 
ideal  that  for  which  we  are  all  striving? 
Would  it  be  of  any  value  to  describe  to  you 
what  is  less  than  the  best  ? 

These  occupations,  which  are  so  well  be- 
loved of  childhood,  are  more  useful  even 
than  the  gifts  for  cooperative  work.  Here, 
for  instance,  the  children  are  fitting  up  a 
doll-house,  each  contributing  a  portion  of 
the  furnishings;  here  they  are  combining 
their  weaving-mats  to  make  a  border  for 
55 


The   Kindergarten 

the  blackboard;  here  they  are  grouping 
their  paper  foldings  for  a  large  design  to 
hang  on  the  wall;  here  each  one  is  model- 
ling a  small  clay  sphere  which  he  will  after- 
ward paint,  and  thus  a  fine  box  of  marbles 
will  be  provided  for  a  sick  playmate.  In 
no  case  is  the  work  allowed  to  be  a  selfish 
possession  for  one  child  alone;  the  joy  in 
production  and  achievement  is  made  to 
grow,  as  far  as  possible,  from  the  thought 
that  .some  one  else  is  to  be  made  happier 
thereby. 

Make  a  Neighbourhood  Kindergarten 
Ah,  you  say  in  surprise,  if  these  things 
be  true  what  a  storehouse  of  virtues  and 
graces  is  here  to  be  drawn  upon;  what  in- 
telligent mother  would  dare  to  reject  such 
riches  for  her  children!  Let  her  see  to  it, 
then,  that  each  one  of  her  brood  receives 
his  rightful  share  of  the  inheritance,  and 
if  he  cannot  be  taken  to  the  kindergarten 
let  the  kindergarten  be  brought  to  him. 

If  there  are  four  or  five  children  within 
reach   gather   this   handful   together  and 
make  a  neighbourhood  child -garden;  if  you 
50 


In  a  Nutshell 

live  in  a  lighthouse  and  have  only  one 
child,  still  do  what  you  can.  Much  may 
be  accomplished  even  though  the  blessed 
influence  of  companionship  is  denied  to 
your  little  one. 

If  you  are  a  member  of  one  of  the  Study 
Clubs  already  suggested  for  those  commu- 
nities too  small  to  employ  a  kindergartner, 
it  will  be  best  for  you  to  take  up  the  oc- 
cupations in  detail  as  a  subject  of  serious 
attention.  You  can  never  hope  that  the 
child  will  accomplish  anything  worthy  with 
them  unless  you  know  them  yourself  prac- 
tically as  well  as  theoretically,  and  unless 
you  recognise  their  difficulties  and  their 
possibilities. 

The  Best  Occupations  for  the  Home 

There  are  a  number  of  technical  works 

on  the  occupations  that  the  members  of 

the  clubs  may  study  and  read  together,  and 

there  are  plates  included  in  some  of  them 

(and  to  be  had  separately  also)  which  show 

the  ordinary  "schools  of  work"  in  each 

employment — that  is,  a  systematic  course, 

part  or  all  of  which  the  child  is  to  follow, 

57 


The   Kindergarten 

but  which  is  constantly  to  be  diversified  by 
original  production.  These  schools  may 
be  studied  and  practised  by  older  persons 
until  they  understand  clearly  the  prelimi- 
nary steps  to  be  taken  in  each  branch  of 
work  and  have  had  some  experience  in  in- 
vention. 

The  occupations  best  fitted  for  little 
children  in  the  home — those  which  can  be 
conducted  with  some  success  by  a  person 
untrained  or  self-trained  in  kindergarten 
work — are  sewing,  drawing,  and  painting, 
weaving,  cutting,  folding,  peas-work,  clay- 
modelling,  bead-stringing,  and  chain-mak- 
ing. 

The  last  two  of  these  are  very  simple  and 
suitable  for  the  merest  babies,  and  so  in- 
deed is  modelling,  although  adapted  as  well 
to  older  children  and  to  the  adult.* 

Bead-stringing  has  always  been  a  nursery 
pastime,  but  it  is  not  advisable  that  very 
young  children  should  use  the  tiny  bits  of 
glass  generally  provided  for  the  purpose, 

*  "The  Republic  of  Childhood,"  Vol.11,  eon- 
tains,  in  each  chapter  upon  the  occupations,  hints 
for  home  and  school  work,  with  all  the  materials. 

58 


In  a  Nutshell 

since  there  is  some  nervous  strain  in  hand- 
ling the  delicate  needle  and  thread  which 
are  requisite,  and  in  finding  the  small  open- 
ing in  the  bead. 

The  larger  glass  or  porcelain  beads,  either 
round  or  cylindrical,  which  are  made'  in 
Germany  in  greafc  quantities,  are  suitable 
for  stringing,  and  so  are  the  wooden  kin- 
dergarten beads — spheres,  cubes,  and  cyl- 
inders. A  stout  cord,  wire,  or  shoe-lace 
is  to  be  preferred  for  the  exercise,  and  it 
is  to  be  remembered  that  some  sequence,  or 
arrangement  in  number,  colour,  or  form, 
is  to  be  emphasized,  or  the  work  will  re- 
main only  finger- work. 

Chain-making,  which  is  merely  the  past- 
ing together  in  link  form  of  strips  of  col- 
oured paper  two  inches  long  perhaps  and 
one-third  inch  wide,  is  always  enjoyed  by 
babies,  and  so  are  the  daisy-chains  made 
by  alternately  stringing  bits  of  straw  and 
paper;  but  it  cannot  be  too  much  empha- 
sized that  no  faded  colours,  soiled  and 
crumpled  papers,  or  badly  cut  materials 
are  to  be  used  for  this  work.  Everything 
must  be  fresh,  bright,  and  dainty,  or  we 
59 


The   Kindergarten 

can  hardly  exact  the  same  qualities  from 
the  finished  product. 

Paper-tearing  is  something  which  all 
children  delight  in,  and  which  can  be 
made  valuable  as  well  as  pleasant  to  them. 
They  may  first  tear  long  strips  of  news- 
paper carefully,  afterward  using  them  fast- 
ened to  a  stick  as  fly-brooms,  perhaps,  and 
then,  from  more  attractive  paper,  tear  cir- 
cles, squares,  and  finally  simple  forms, 
such  as  houses,  boats,  and  furniture. 

As  to  weaving,  care  must  be  taken  not  to 
use  too  finely  cut  papers;  and  it  is  as  well 
to  begin  with  oilcloth  mats  and  wooden 
slats,  passing  from  these,  when  the  art  is 
learned,  to  woollen  mats  and  strips,  which 
can  be  woven,  still  using  the  fingers,  to 
make  holders,  mats,  carpets  for  doll- 
houses,  etc.  Cane  and  rush  weaving,  for 
which  manuals  can  be  obtained,  are  excel- 
lent employments  for  older  children,  and 
if  the  connection  of  the  employment  with 
art  and  industry  is  to  be  understood,  it  is 
best  that  they  should  see  a  loom  at  work, 
and  note  the  devices  for  unwinding  the 
warp  as  it  is  taken  up  by  the  weaving, 
60 


In  a   Nutshell 

and  for  raising  and  lowering  alternate  sets 
of  strings  as  the  wool  or  rags  is  passed 
through.  Simple  models  of  wooden  looms 
are  to  be  had,  and  are  particularly  useful 
for  group  work. 

Modelling  in  Clay 

The  clay-modelling  is  the  most  valuable 
art  material  the  kindergarten  holds,  per- 
haps, and  one  of  the  most  universally  at- 
tractive. It  is  really  ideal  work  for  little 
children,  as  it  entails  no  strain  on  eye  or 
fingers,  is  easily  handled,  pleasant  to  the 
touch,  responsive  to  fancy,  and  adapted  to 
making  many  objects  of  infantile  desire  in 
the  way  of  balls,  marbles,  beads  for  string- 
ing, as  well  as  the  fashioning  of  geometri- 
cal forms,  tea-sets,  furniture,  fruits,  leaves, 
vegetables,  flowers,  and  animals.  Let  no 
prejudice  in  regard  to  its  dusty  or  soiling 
qualities  deter  the  mother  from  using  it'. 
The  prejudice  is,  in  fact,  unfounded,  for 
if  the  children  are  taught  to  be  ordinarily 
neat,  and  if  they  use  trays  or  oilcloth-cov- 
ered tables  for  their  work,  no  harm  is  done 
to  clothes  or  furniture,  and,  as  for  hands, 
61 


The   Kindergarten 

no  child  but  would  willingly  scrub  them 
afterward  to  a  lobster-like  redness  if  he 
might  but  have  the  dear  delight  of  this 
idealised  mud-pie  making. 

The  more  the  mother  or  teacher  knows 
of  the  possibilities  and  limitations  of  the 
clay,  the  greater  will  be  her  pupils'  suc- 
cesses, of  course;  but  no  person  of  ordinary 
intelligence  can  conduct  modelling  with 
children  without  giving  them  great  pleas- 
ure, and  teaching  them,  and  herself  at  the 
same  time,  many  a  useful  lesson. 

For  most  of  the  remaining  occupations 
considerable  study  and  practice  are  un- 
doubtedly necessary,  but  so  many  helps  in 
the  work  are  now  to  be  had  that  fair  suc- 
cess may  be  expected  if  only  the  matter  be 
given  its  full  share  of  time  and  importance. 
The  sewing  cards  may  be  made  at  home; 
the  drawing  materials  are  to  be  found  in 
every  nursery ;  the  colored  paper  for  chains, 
for  cutting,  and  for  folding  may  be  pre- 
pared by  the  mother  if  she  is  exact  and 
careful  and  not  averse  to  constant  ruling 
and  measuring,  and  it  is  a  simple  matter 
to  mix  the  clay  for  moulding.  The  beads, 
G2 


In  a  Nutshell 

of  course,  must  be  bought,  and  so  must 
the  paper  for  the  weaving,  and,  for  that 
matter,  so  must  all  the  other  materials  un- 
less they  can  be  furnished  fresh,  accurately 
cut,  correct  and  attractive  in  colour,  and 
precise  in  measurement. 

Mothers  Should  Understand  the  Occupations 
It  is  certain  that  the  mother  who  makes 
a  determined  effort  to  understand  the  kin- 
dergarten occupations  herself,  and  to 
employ  them  for  the  benefit  of  her  child, 
will  be  a  thousand  times  repaid  both  in 
those  things  which  she  can  see  without 
effort  and  in  those  which  she  must  take 
on  trust. 

As  to  the  visible  benefits,  she  cannot  help 
perceiving  that  they  assist,  like  the  gifts, 
in  preparing  for  the  studies  of  the  school, 
that  they  form  an  admirable  preparation 
for  later  work  in  the  arts  and  industries, 
that  they  make  the  child  more  resourceful, 
more  apt  at  amusing  himself  and  provid- 
ing amusement  for  others,  and,  finally,  that 
they  not  only  assist  in  fostering  the  simple 
virtues  and  in  forming  habits  of  industry, 
63 


The   Kindergarten 

economy,  and  order,  but  give  a  mental 
training  which  will  be  of  the  greatest  pos- 
sible service  by  and  by,  when  the  little  one 
becomes  a  member  of  the  world's  great 
army  of  workers. 


64 


In  a  Nutshell 

CHAPTER  IV 

NATURE'S  TOYS  AXD  PASTIMES 

THE  educational  employments  and  pas- 
times which  Froebel  worked  out  or  sug- 
gested are  by  no  means  confined  to  balls 
and  blocks  and  sticks,  or  to  designing, 
moulding,  and  manipulating  bits  of  paper. 
He  was  too  great  a  lover  of  Nature  in  all 
her  moods  and  ways,  had  felt  too  keenly 
the  wisdom,  peace,  and  strength  she  gives 
her  votaries,  to  be  willing  to  omit  her  teach- 
ings from  his  ideal  scheme  of  human  de- 
velopment. Many  things  that  he  recom- 
mended, having  to  do  with  Nature  and  the 
life  of  Nature,  have  been  passed  over  or 
neglected  by  the  teacher,  and  largely  be- 
cause the  kindergarten  in  America  has  been 
so  much  a  feature  of  crowded  city  life,  has 
been  so  far  removed  from  the  ideal  condi- 
tions in  regard  to  space  and  situation,  that 
care  of  and  companionship  with  animals, 
for  instance,  or  sowing  the  seed  and  tend- 
5  65 


The   Kindergarten 

ing  the  plants,  have  been  quite  out  of  the 
question. 

Advantages  of  Country  Life 
Here  the  women  to  whom  this  little 
handbook  is  chiefly  addressed,  those  who 
live  in  the  country  or  in  villages  and  small 
towns  away  from  the  centres  of  civilisation, 
may  exult  in  one  of  their  great  advantages, 
for  their  children  have  room  enough  to 
live  and  to  grow  in  and  to  learn  Nature's 
lessons  at  first  hand.  That  such  a  life  is 
an  ideal  one  for  the  little  child  would  be 
affirmed  probably  by  every  one  who  had 
lived  it  himself,  and  that  it  was  so  consid- 
ered by  Froebel  there  is  abundant  testi- 
mony in  the  songs,  text,  and  illustrations 
of  the  "Mother-Play." 

Children's  Gardens 

Every  child,  if  you  would  bring  him  up 
on  kindergarten  principles,  should  have 
his  own  garden,  however  small  it  may  be, 
and  should  till  it  himself  with  such  help 
in  the  heavier  work  as  may  be  necessary. 
It  should  not  be  a  thing  granted  for  one 
66 


In  a  Nutshell 

summer  and  denied  the  next,  as  of  little 
worth  and  much  trouble,  but  should  be  of 
unfailing  return  like  the  seasons.  Nor 
should  the  gardener  have  too  much  dicta- 
tion from  older  persons  as  to  what  he  shall 
plant  and  how  he  shall  arrange  it,  nor 
should  it  be  commanded  that  he  shall  keep 
liis  vegetables  and  his  flowers  separate. 

If  he  thinks  that  he  prefers  sweet  peas 
and  onions  growing  side  by  side,  let  him 
have  them  so.  Good  taste  is  only  a  finer 
discrimination;  and  how  are  you  to  dis- 
criminate without  experience  ?  There  is 
nothing  more  interesting  than  the  miracle 
of  growth,  and  no  child  but  will  watch 
with  a  passion  of  delight  the  stirring  of  the 
ground  by  the  green  shoots,  their  gradual 
emergence,  strong  and  determined,  push- 
ing aside  all  obstacles,  to  the  light  they 
love,  their  daily  development  of  character- 
istics which  mark  their  race  inheritance, 
and  finally  their  maturity  and  fruition. 
A  great  impression  of  the  inevitable  na- 
ture of  cause  and  effect — a  useful  thing  in 
education — comes  to  the  child  with  the  first 
perception  that  whatsoever  a  man  soweth 
67 


The   Kindergarten 

that  shall  he  also  reap,  and  that  however 
ardently  you  may  wish  and  pray  for  a  crop 
of  cabbages,  it  is  all  of  no  avail  if  you  have 
not  planted  cabbage-seed. 

Lessons  Learned  by  the  Gardener 
All  the  lessons,  too,  which  come  to  the 
gardener  of  the  dependence  upon  him  of 
his  vegetable  family  are  of  a  softening  and 
developing  kind .  He  must  be  patient  with 
bad  weather  and  slow  growth,  he  must  be 
watchful  of  foes  within  and  without,  he 
must  keep  back  invading  weeds,  loosen  the 
soil,  and  provide  water  when  needful.  The 
child  only  learns  the  first  line  of  all  these 
lessons,  to  be  sure,  and  he  requires  a  teacher 
for  the  task,  but  he  is  learning  by  doing, 
and  that  makes  all  the  difference. 

City  Prisoners 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  your  child  be  a 
prisoner  of  the  city,  the  joys  of  gardening 
need  not  be  altogether  denied  to  him,  for 
if  there  is  absolutely  no  earth-room,  no 
tiny  spot  of  hard  ground  that  can  be  made 
productive,  there  are  few  dwelling-places 


In  a  Nutshell 

where  one  may  not  have  somewhere  a  large 
box  of  soil  for  the  growing  of  a  few  hardy 
flowers  and  small  vegetables.  If  even  that 
be  denied,  there  is  always  window  garden- 
ing to  do — sweet  potatoes  and  carrots  and 
parsnips  to  be  hollowed  out  and  filled  with 
water,  -sponges  to  sow  with  seed,  bulbs  to 
grow  in  glasses,  and  flowers  to  tend  in  pots 
and  boxes.  Anything  so  that  we  may  have 
a  garden — "  that  divine  filter  that  filters  all 
the  grossness  out  of  us,  and  leaves  us,  each 
time  we  have  been  in  it,  clearer  and  purer, 
and  more  harmless." 

Employments  for  Country  Children 
In  connection  with  and  development 
from  this  gardening  come  a  great  many 
employments  for  the  country  child,  or  for 
him  who  has  country  holidays.  Perhaps 
you  know  them  already,  or  have  you  for- 
gotten them — the  platted  wreaths  of  leaves 
we  used  to  make,  the  dandelion  and  daisy 
and  lilac  chains,  and  those  charming  ones 
of  hollyhock  buds,  the  poppy  dollies,  the 
furniture  of  burdock  burrs,  and  the  plump, 
prettily  decorated  sand  and  mud  pies  ? 
69 


The  Kindergarten 

And  here  enter,  too,  most  appropriately, 
drawing  and  painting  from  Nature — not 
landscapes,  of  course,  but  simple  flowers, 
leaves,  and  fruit  with  which  the  children, 
because  not  too  much  fettered  by  rule,  and 
by  dint  of  loving  the  work,  often  attain 
surprisingly  good  results. 

Children  Natural  Collectors 
Children  naturally  delight  in  collecting, 
and  they  can  easily  be  led  to  gather  and 
press  leaves  and  flowers  and  ferns  and  sea- 
moss,  to  seek  out  nuts  and  seeds  and  pods 
of  various  shapes  and  arrange  them  in 
boxes,  and  to  pick  up  and  classify  small 
pebbles  and  shells  and  minerals. 

These  collections,  it  must  be  owned,  are 
often  somewhat  of  a  trial  to  the  neat  and 
careful  housewife,  but  if  they  are  confined 
within  certain  limits  and  not  allowed  to 
stray  beyond  them,  they  may  well  be  borne, 
in  view  of  their  healthy  effect  upon  the 
child.  They  keep  him  busy,  and  wisely 
busy,  with  things  which  are  his  natural 
playthings;  they  teach  him  discrimination, 
order,  and  classification,  and  they  lead  him 
70 


In  a   Nutshell 

to  inexhaustible  wonder  at  the  treasures  of 
the  universe. 

**  The  world  is  so  full  of  a  number  of  things 
I'm  sure  we  should  all  be  as  happy  as  kings," 

is  the  sweet,  wholesome  thought  of  every 
child  who  is  learning  from  Nature. 

And  when  the  seasons  of  growing  and 
blooming  and  harvesting  are  over,  the 
small  collector  finds  that  he  has  provided 
for  himself  delightful  employments  for  the 
winter;  for  there  are  his  stores  to  be  ar- 
ranged and  rearranged  and  re-rearranged 
ad  infinitum,  with  ever  fresh  perceptions 
of  their  beauty  and  value;  there  is  design- 
ing at  the  kindergarten  tables  with  the 
glossy  seeds  and  nuts  and  shining  pebbles 
and  delicate  shells,  and  there  are  drawing 
and  brush-work  still  to  be  continued  from 
the  treasures  he  has  gathered  in  the  long 
summer  hours. 

Care  of  Pet  Animals 

Just  as  clearly  as  Froebel  traces  in  all 
his  writings  the  path  which  the  mother 
should  follow  in  leading  the  child  to  a  love 
71 


The  Kindergarten 

and  understanding  of  the  plant  and  vege- 
table world,  so  he  indicates  the  value  to 
him  of  the  care  and  companionship  of  ani- 
mals. One  of  the  earliest  songs  in  the 
"Mother-Play"  is  "Calling  the  Chickens/' 
in  whicli  the  baby  in  his  mother's  arms  is 
taken  to  see  the  pretty  feathered  babies, 
and  led  to  feel  that  they  love  him  as  much 
as  he  is  drawn  toward  them.  "  Calling 
the  Pigeons"  follows,  "The  Fish  in  the 
Brook,"  "  The  Barnyard  Gate,"  and  other 
songs,  each  framed  to  give  a  different  les- 
son. "  The  Barnyard  Gate  "  is  only  a  de- 
velopment of  the  practice  common  in  every 
country  of  teaching  the  ba%  to  imitate 
and  distinguish  between  animal  sounds — a 
practice  so  instinctive  that  the  Indian 
mother  in  the  far  West  and  the  Alaskan 
in  her  northern  snows  doubtless  ask  their 
pappooses  what  the  coyote  and  the  seal  say; 
as  naturally  as  we  question,  "What  does 
the  duck  say,  baby?"  Froebel  believes 
that  the  child  often  gets  his  first  idea  of 
motherly  care  and  tenderness  from  the 
eight  of  a  hen  and  chickens,  or  of  a  bird  and 
her  young,  and  that  so  he  grows  to  see,  as 
72 


In  a  Nutshell 

by  reflected  light,  his  own  relation  to  the 
home-nest. 

If  the  child  is  so  fortunate  as  to  live  in 
the  country,  or  in  country  conditions,  all 
this  animal  life  is  provided  for  him;  if  in 
a  cramped  city  house,  it  is  next  door  to  im- 
possible that  he  should  have  it,  save  at  the 
cost  of  pain  and  discomfort  to  the  pets,  a 
price  which  to  pay  would  defeat  the  very 
object  we  are  striving  to  attain. 

If  they  may  not  live  by  his  side,  he  can 
at  least  be  taken  to  see  them,  and  here 
zoological  gardens  and  parks  stocked  with 
sheep  and  deer,  peacocks  and  swans,  are  of 
inestimable  value  if  the  child  is  allowed  to 
see  them  quietly  and  at  leisure,  and  to 
linger  by  those  which  interest  him,  and  is 
not  pulled  about  from  one  to  the  other  at 
the  will  of  his  care-taker.  You  may  not 
enjoy  monkeys,  for  instance,  and  a  brief 
glance  in  their  all-too-hnman  faces  is  even 
more  than  you  desire,  but  you  can  be 
certain  that  your  child  will  utterly  fail  to 
sympathise  with  your  feelings,  and  may 
make  up  your  mind  to  self-sacrifice  in 
advance. 

73 


The   Kindergarten 

Responsibility  for  Pets 

It  is  really  not  enough,  however,  merely 
to  see  these  things:  the  ideal  requires  that 
the  child  take  care  of  them,  learn  their 
likes  and  dislikes,  and  grow  to  feel  his  re- 
sponsibility as  their  providence.  If  he  ac- 
cepts the  charge  of  a  bird,  a  guinea-pig,  a 
puppy,  or  a  kitten,  let  it  be  understood 
that  he  is  to  let  nothing,  no  play  or  frolic, 
interfere  with  his  care  for  it  at  stated 
hours,  for  it  must  be  clearly  comprehended 
at  the  beginning  that  we  cannot  have  the 
pleasure  of  anything  without  being  willing 
to  pay  its  price.  There  is  no  childish  fault 
which,  in  the  writer's  opinion,  should  be 
more  severely  punished  than  cruelty  to  one 
of  these  dumb  creatures,  and  none  which 
so  requires  immediate  and  early  checking 
that  it  may  not  develop  into  positive  vice 
by  and  by. 

When  all  other  pets  are  out  of  the  ques- 
tion in  the  household,  it  is  often  feasible 
to  have  an  aquarium,  and  indeed  it  makes 
an  interesting  addition  to  any  collection, 
however  varied. 

It  is  possible  at  small  expense  to  make 
74 


In  a   Nutshell 

one  at  home  ;  and  if  the  subject  is  suffi- 
ciently studied  as  to  balance  of  plant  and 
animal  life,  and  amount  and  kind  of  food 
and  water,  the  children  may  assist  in  tak- 
ing care  of  it,  and  so  gain  a  great  deal  of 
pleasure  and  knowledge. 

There  is  always,  too,  a  possibility  of  scat- 
tering crumbs  and  seed  for  the  wild  birds 
in  spring  and  fall  and  winter,  and  some 
children  of  long  ago  derived  the  greatest 
possible  delight,  we  remember,  one  season, 
from  keeping  a  kind  of  bird-restaurant,  and 
providing  in  one  convenient  place  assorted 
kinds  of  food  much  enjoyed  by  the  feath- 
ered patrons. 

Bands  of  Mercy 

It  is  in  all  these  small  ways,  you  see, 
that  we  develop  the  child's  heart,  so  little 
touched  by  ordinary  schemes  of  education; 
that  we  train  his  faculties  of  observation 
and  judgment,  and  that  we  give  him  a  due 
sense  of  responsibility.  We  believe  that 
every  Mother's  Club  should  have  a  Band 
of  Mercy  in  connection  with  its  work, 
should  muster  companies  of  gallant  Bird 


The   Kindergarten 

Defenders  among  its  associate  members, 
and  should  inculcate  by  example  and  pre- 
cept and  direct  teaching  that  care  and  ten- 
derness toward  all  things,  both  great  and 
small,  which  is  the  first  step  toward  true 
worship  of  their  Maker. 

Play  with  Sand 

There  is  yet  another  simple,  normal  oc- 
cupation for  children,  used  in  the  kinder- 
garten, but  quite  as  suitable  for  the  home, 
and  that  is  playing  with  sand.  Xo  one 
who  lived  within  reach  of  a  sand-pile  as  a 
child,  or  who  was  ever  taken  to  the  sea- 
shore to  dig  and  build  there  to  his  heart's 
content,  can  help  a  retrospective  thrill  of 
delight  as  he  thinks  of  those  happy  baby 
hours. 

And  think  how  simple  it  is,  if  you  have 
any  out-door  room  for  the  children,  to 
place  a  load  of  sand  in  some  convenient 
spot,  enclose  it  with  a  board  or  two  to  pre- 
vent its  spreading,  and  arrange  some  sort 
of  awning  or  covering  above  for  warm  or 
wet  days.  There  all  the  children,  even  to 
the  baby,  may  be  deposited  for  an  hour  or 
76 


In  a  Nutshell 

so  a  day,  and  if  provided  with  spades,  pails 
to  fill  and  empty,  and  some*  building  mate- 
rials, would  not  change  their  lots  for  those 
of  all  the  crowned  heads  in  Europe. 

If  your  children,  poor  city  prisoners, 
have  no  playground,  provide  for  them  in- 
doors a  stout  water-tight  box,  about  five 
feet  long  by  four  wide,  and  at  least  a 
foot  deep,  set  on  legs  with  castors;  fill 
that  with  sand,  buy  smaller  spades  and 
pails,  and  a  variety  of  tins  for  cake-bak- 
ing, and  sun  yourself  in  the  delight  you 
are  giving. 

Here  all  the  kindergarten  gifts,  rather 
small  for  the  out-door  work,  may  be  ap- 
propriately used;  here  we  may  plant  trees 
and  load  their  branches  with  magnificent 
fruit  represented  by  the  balls;  here  we  may 
pasture  toy  animals,  fencing  them  in  with 
the  second  gift  beads  threaded  on  sticks; 
here  we  may  build  houses,  barns,  whole 
villages,  if  desired,  with  the  blocks,  and 
here  we  may  lay  out  flower-beds  and  de- 
sign miniature  gardens  to  our  heart's  con- 
tent. 

If  any  mother  here  lifts  up  her  voice  and 
77 


The   Kindergarten 

protests  that  she  has  no  room  for  even  a 
sand-table,  suggest  to  her  a  deep  tray 
hinged  to  the  wall  and  folded  against  it 
when  not  in  use.  This  may  have  an  open- 
ing in  the  bottom,  through  which  the  sand 
may  be  emptied  when  the  play  is  over, 
and  no  child,  be  sure,  would  ever  complain 
of  the  work  of  making  the  plaything 
ready.* 

This  sand-work,  of  whatever  kind  it  may 
be,  is  especially  beneficial  because  it  pro- 
vides so  many  opportunities  for  united  ac- 
tion. The  children  gather  about  the  heap 
or  table  together,  and  together  learn  to 
play,  frequently  combining  their  efforts 
toward  some  desired  end. 

Sand  differs  from  other  play-materials 
also  in  that  it  is  quite  as  delightful  for  the 
baby,  who  does  little  but  fill  his  vessels 
with  it  and  empty  them  again,  as  for  the 
more  skilful  child,  who  builds  houses,  for- 
tresses, and  castles,  and  lays  out  relief- 
maps  of  all  countries  with  the  responsive, 
easily  handled  substance. 

*  Extended  suggestions  on  the  use  of  sand  will 
be  found  in  "Republic  of  Childhood/'  Vol.  II. 

78 


In  a  Nutshell 

Simple,  Natural  Occupations 

There  is  much  to  be  said  about  these 
simple,  natural  occupations  for  children, 
much  one  might  claim  as  to  the  serenity 
and  vigour  they  bring,  just  because  they 
are  simple  and  natural.  The  quieter  and 
more  undisturbed  our  little  ones  are,  the 
more  freedom  they  are  given  to  wander  in 
the  fields  and  play  in  the  brook  and  dig  in 
the  ground,  the  less  they  are  occupied  with 
exciting  sights  and  complicated  toys — elab- 
orate dolls,  puzzling  contrivances  that  need 
winding  up,  perfect  mechanical  inventions 
that  require  no  labour  of  small  hands  to 
complete  them — the  more  normal  and  ra- 
tional human  beings  are  they  likely  to  be- 
come, and  the  more  complete  and  unfet- 
tered will  be  their  development. 


79 


The  Kindergarten 
CHAPTER  V 

COME,    TELL    US   A    STORY 

SELIM,  son  of  Auz,  is  said  to  have  been 
the  first  Egyptian  story-teller,  but  as  the 
date  when  he  charmed  his  audiences  is 
given  as  only  a  few  thousand  years  ago, 
and  as  Egypt  is  the  seat  of  one  of  the  most 
ancient  of  civilisations,  we  are  forced  to 
believe  that  he  must  have  had  a  vast  com- 
pany of  humble  predecessors. 

Indeed — for  this  is  woman's  century  and 
woman's  country,  and  we  may  fearlessly 
say  what  we  like  of  ourselves — it  would  not 
at  all  surprise  us  to  learn  that  the  first 
Egyptian  story-teller  was  the  daughter,  not 
the  son  of  anybody,  and  that  her  achieve- 
ments have  never  been  properly  recorded. 

Women  as  Story-Tellers 

We  wonder  in  these  days  of  the  exalta- 
tion of  women  that  more  has  not  been  said 
of  their  services  to  literature  as  preservers 

80 


In  a  Nutshell 

of  the  nursery  tales  of  all  nations.  Most 
of  the  modern  collections  in  this  line,  for 
instance,  so  valuable  to  adults  as  well  as  to 
children,  were  taken  down,  substantially 
as  they  stand,  from  the  lips  of  women 
whose  memories  were  as  fragrant  with  the 
old  tales  as  a  rose-jar  of  its  spicy  con- 
tents. 

And  it  is  no  cause  for  wonder  that  this 
should  be  so,  for  since  the  beginning  of 
the  world  mothers  have  been  story-tellers, 
forced  to  practise  the  art  whether  they 
would  or  not,  and  since  it  was  not  consid- 
ered essential  that  they  should  receive  in- 
struction in  the  schools,  a  larger  capacity 
remained  in  their  minds  for  the  storage 
of  myth  and  fable  and  legend.  When  we 
talk  to  women  of  story- tell  ing,  then,  we 
talk  to  them  of  something  which  should  be 
theirs  by  inheritance  as  much  as  an  apti- 
tude for  needlework,  although,  like  that 
art,  it  needs  practice  to  attain  perfection. 
The  word  mother  presupposes  the  word 
child,  and  the  child  who  does  not  care  for 
stories  is  as  difficult  to  find  as  the  pot  of 
gold  at  the  foot  of  the  rainbow,  so  incredi- 
6  81 


The   Kindergarten 

blesa  creation,   indeed,  that  it  would  be 
waste  of  time  to  search  for  him. 

The  story  has  commonly  been  told  no 
doubt  in  all  times,  more  to  amuse  the  lit- 
tle people  and  to  keep  them  quiet  than  for 
any  deeper  reason,  and  such  instruction  as 
it  might  have  conveyed  was  given  uncon- 
sciously. It  is  by  no  means  universally 
understood,  even  now,  that  it  is  at  once 
literature  and  the  drama,  science  and  his- 
tory, to  the  youthful  mind,  nor  that  it  is 
one  of  the  most  valuable  means  which  a 
mother  can  employ  for  giving  moral  guid- 
ance and  bringing  the  force  of  example  to 
bear  upon  the  child's  intelligence. 

Stories  Which  Have  Decided  Destinies 
There  are  many  cases  in  which  a  well- 
told  story  is  of  marked  effect  in  determin- 
ing the  course  of  future  life  and  occupa- 
tion. A  noted  genealogist,  for  instance, 
traces  his  interest  in  kin  and  lineage,  and 
the  bent  of  his  manhood's  labours,  to  the 
thrilling  tale  he  often  heard  as  a  child  at 
his  grandfather's  knee,  of  the  founder  of 
the  family,  who  was  thrown  upon  these 
82 


In  a  Nutshell 

coasts,  a  shipwrecked  sailor,  many  a  year 
ago.  The  anecdote  was  so  well  told,  with  a 
wealth  of  picturesque  detail,  and  therefore 
so  often  demanded,  that  it  made  a  deep 
impression  upon  his  imagination,  and  as 
he  pondered  over  it  from  day  to  day,  it 
became  a  nucleus  around  which  all  his 
thoughts  were  centred. 

Some  of  our  greatest  novelists,  Sir  Wal- 
ter Scott,  for  instance,  have  attributed 
their  success  in  weaving  tales  of  romance 
and  adventure  to  their  childhood  memories 
of  nurses'  bed-time  stories,  of  ballads  told 
on  winter  evenings  round  the  fire,  and  of 
gallant  deeds  of  history  proudly  recounted 
over  and  over,  again  and  again,  in  the 
home  circle. 

When  the  heart  is  young,  the  mind  fresh 
and  unworn,  it  is  then  that  we  receive 
these  ineffaceable  impressions,  and  then 
that  our  lives  get  their  bent  for  time  and 
eternity,  for 

"  .  .  .  we  live  by  Admiration,  Hope,  and  Love, 
And  ev'n  as  these  are  well  and  wisely  fix'd, 
In  dignity  of  being  we  ascend. " 


83 


The   Kindergarten 

Literary  Interest  in  the  Bud 
The  veriest  baby  feels  and  shows  a  pleas- 
ure in  hearing  rhymes  and  jingles,  attracted 
by  the  musical  voice  and  the  cadence  of  syl- 
lables rather  than  the  meaning,  no  doubt, 
yet  thereby  gaining  a  power  of  attention 
which  will  be  of  service  later  in  life.  This 
is,  perhaps,  the  beginning  of  interest  in 
literature;  or  if  it  may  not  be  called  by  so 
lofty  a  name,  may  at  least  be  considered 
the  first  steps  toward  joy  in  the  music  of 
verse. 

If  we  should  try  to  catalogue  the  benefits 
derived  by  the  child  from  an  early  and 
a  constant  hearing  of  the  right  kind  of 
stories,  we  would  be  surprised  at  the  bulky 
volume  that  would  grow  under  our  hands. 
The  trouble  is  that  we  do  not  take  these 
things  seriously  enough,  and  fail  to  realise 
what  we  are  doing  when  we  minister  to  the 
child's  instinctive  hunger  for  literature. 
To  quiet  him  with  the  first  tale  that  comes 
to  mind  is  like  drugging  a  baby  to  sleep, 
or  feeding  him  with  some  substance  which 
will  create  a  hurtful  appetite  by  and  by. 
Doubtless  we  may  cultivate  a  taste  for  read- 
84 


In  a  Nutshell 

ing  by  so  doing,  but  that  is  by  no  means 
only  and  always  a  blessing.  Better  the 
child  should  never  open  a  book  at  all  than 
that  he  should  poison  his  mind  and  lower 
his  ideals  by  feeding  upon  dime  novels, 
vulgar  newspapers,  and  cheap  railway 
fiction,  or  upon  those  higher-priced  and 
more  artistically  handled  literary  produc- 
tions whose  style  can  but  give  delight, 
while  their  subject-matter  darkens  and 
degrades  every  mind  into  which  it  fil- 
ters. 

It  seems  to  be  considered  by  some  par- 
ents that  the  ideal  to  be  reached  with  a 
child  is  that  he  should  be  able  to  sit  quiet 
and  read,  forgetting  that  the  flood  of  cheap 
newspapers,  books,  and  magazines  now 
sweeping  over  every  country  may  have 
brought  to  his  lips  the  rankest  poison,  or, 
if  not  that,  some  lowering,  enfeebling  sub- 
stance, instead  of  a  tonic  or  a  stimulant. 
When  we  note  what  young  people  are  read- 
ing everywhere,  in  horse-cars  and  trains,  in 
stations  and  hotels,  in  stables  and  kibchens, 
in  shops  and  barracks,  in  cottages  and  man- 
sions, we  wonder  if  the  Chinese  did  well 
85 


The   Kindergarten 

when  they  invented  printing,  and  whether 
the  cheapness  of  modern  literature  may  not 
be  counted  as  much  for  evil  as  for  good  in 
education. 

Taste  in  Literature  a  Growth 
The  lack  of  efficient  oversight  in  young 
people's  reading  is  partly  due,  no  doubt, 
to  the  belief  that  good  taste  in  literature  is 
something  that  inevitably  comes  with  ma- 
turity, like  long  dresses  and  tail  coats,  and 
which  therefore  need  not  be  prepared  for, 
forgetting  that  taste  is  a  matter  of  experi- 
ence and  judgment  and  cultivation,  and 
must  have  its  humble  beginnings  like  every 
other  good  thing. 

Some  Little  Heroes  Whom  Children  Love 

If  we  take  the  subject  of  story-telling  on 

the  moral  side  we  see   at  once  that  the 

heroes  of  our  histories  become  ideals  upon 

which  the  little  one  unconsciously  forms 

himself.     Listen  to  the  echoes  of  your  own 

childhood,  if  you  doubt  the  statement,  and 

see  if  a  story  of  long  ago  does  not  come 

back  to  you,  a  faint,  far-off  strain  that 

86 


In  a  Nutshell 

once  made  the  music  of  your  days.  Some- 
times such  a  memory  furnishes  deep  con- 
viction of  the  truth  of  an  educational  the- 
ory, for 

"  The  eye  grown  dim  to  present  things 
Has  keener  sight  for  bygone  years, 
And  sweet  and  clear,  to  deafening  ears 
The  bird  that  sang  at  morning  sings." 

Do  you  remember  how  you  repented  not 
sharing  your  cake  with  your  sister  when 
the  shocking  avarice  of  King  Midas  was 
held  up  to  your  scorn  ? 

Do  you  remember  how  you  shuddered  at 
the  very  thought  of  disobedience  when  that 
unfortunate  little  maid — what  was  her 
name  ? — defied  her  mother's  commands 
and  was  lost  in  the  dark  forest  ?  Do  you 
remember  Harry  and  his  dog  Trusty,  and 
how  the  boy  was  put  to  bed  on  the  day  of 
his  birthday  party  because  he  abused  his 
faithful  companion  ? 

Do  you  recall  that  small  heroine  who, 

left  alone  in  the  lighthouse,  climbed  the 

tower  and  lighted  the  lamp  herself  to  save 

the   sailors   tossing   in  the  storm  below  ? 

87 


The  Kindergarten 

And  have  you  forgotten — though  of  course 
you  have  not,  nobody  could — that  heroic 
Dutch  boy  who,  discovering  the  leak  in  the 
dyke,  stopped  it  with  his  own  hand,  and 
sat  there  all  the  night,  cold,  hungry,  and 
cramped  with  pain,  until  help  came  in  the 
morning  ? 

These  few  instances  serve  to  show  how 
stories  may  quicken  the  sympathies  of  chil- 
dren as  well  as  furnish  them  with  hero 
types.  Much  thoughtlessness  and  cruelty 
might  be  prevented  at  the  moment  and 
averted  for  the  future  if  the  imagination 
were  sufficiently  quickened  to  see  as  by 
reflected  light  the  desires  and  feelings 
of  others,  whether  they  be  kinsfolk  with 
wings  and  paws  or  little  human  brothers. 
These  two  are  bound  together,  the  imagi- 
nation and  the  sympathy,  and  if  you  touch 
the  one  the  other  thrills.  A  charming 
boy  of  the  writer's  acquaintance,  for  in- 
stance, confessed  to  her  one  day  that  it  had 
never  occurred  to  him  that  birds  had  any 
affections  or  feelings  resembling  his  own, 
until  he  heard  the  story  of  "  The  Stolen 
Nest,"  and  that  then  he  was  so  filled  with 


In  a  Nutshell 

contrition  at  his  own  misdeeds  that  he  hid 
himself  in  the  haymow  to  blot  them  out 
with  tears. 

Hearing  Stories  Quickens  the  Imagination 
If  we  could  prove  that  story-telling,  when 
properly  conducted,  is  one  of  the  most  effi- 
cient helps  in  cultivating  the  imagination 
we  should  have  made  good  its  claim  to 
consideration  in  home  and  school.  For 
imagination  is  a  power  in  life  because  it 
gives  us  ideals  toward  which  we  may  aspire; 
it  is  a  power  in  labour  because  it  is  allied  to 
invention;  it  is  a  power  in  that  it  helps  us 
to  pass  outside  our  own  experience  and  ap- 
preciate the  views  of  others,  and  it  is  a  power 
in  that  it  may  fill  the  mind  with  beautiful 
images  which  push  out  in  their  growth 
those  which  are  vicious  and  degraded. 

"  Train  the  imagination,"  says  Kichter, 
"  and  a  child  can  play  by  himself,"  and  if 
this  sometimes  most  desirable  end  could  be 
reached,  there  is  no  overworked,  harassed 
mother  but  would  gladly  do  her  part  to- 
ward bringing  it  about. 

Shall  we  make  further  additions  to  our 


The   Kindergarten 

list  of  the  benefits  of  story-telling  ?  We 
may  find  them  in  the  habit  of  concentrated 
attention  to  which  it  gives  rise,  in  the  new 
and  valuable  words  it  adds  to  the  vocabu- 
lary, and  in  the  pleasant  introduction  it 
makes  to  science  and  history  as  well  as  to 
literature. 

listening  to  Stories  Trains  the  Voice 
It  is  valuable,  too,  in  a  very  practical 
way  as  a  means  of  vocal  training.  The 
child  who  is  accustomed  to  hearing  well- 
told  stories  is  necessarily  accustomed  to  a 
well -modulated  voice,  used  with  proper  in- 
flection and  appropriate  expression. 

What  he  constantly  hears  he  cannot 
choose  but  imitate,  for  he  is  a  creature  of 
imitation,  and  this  not  only  helps  to  form 
his  ordinary  speech,  but  passes  onward  into 
school  life  and  makes  him  a  clear  and  ex- 
pressive reader  when  the  time  for  oral  read- 
ing comes. 

Telling,  Not  Reading  the  Stories 
Kindergartners  believe  that  if  the  best 
results   are   to  come  from  story-telling  it 


In  a  Nutshell 

should  be  begun  very  early — long  before 
interest  in  books  has  made  its  appearance, 
and  that  in  the  simplest  way  it  may  be 
practised  as  soon  as  the  baby  begins  to  talk 
—indeed,  as  soon  as  he  begins  to  understand 
what  his  mother  or  his  nurse  says  to  him. 

We  advocate  telling  the  tales  rather  than 
reading  them  because,  first,  it  is  the  method 
by  which  the  race  received  them  when  the 
world  was  young,  and  therefore  inherently 
suitable  to  the  young  child. 

Second,  we  come  into  much  closer  rela- 
tion with  the  hearer  in  this  way,  and  are 
better  able  to  adopt  voice  and  manner,  ges- 
ture and  length  of  recital  to  the  transparent 
needs  so  near  at  hand.  Again,  the  narra- 
tive seems  much  more  real  and  impressive 
and  personal,  much  more  a  "  truly  story," 
as  the  children  say,  if  it  seems  to  come 
direct  from  the  heart  rather  than  from  a 
cold,  printed  page;  and,  lastly,  in  reading, 
the  eyes  are 'hidden,  and  to  young  children 
the  expression  in  the  eyes  of  their  mothers 
during  the  recital  of  either  a  rhyme  or  a 
story  seems  absolutely  necessary  to  its  com- 
plete comprehension. 
91 


The   Kindergarten 

It  is  questionable  whether  we  ever  en- 
tirely outgrow  the  feeling  that  we  can  un- 
derstand better  when  we  can  see  the  face 
of  the  speaker;  for  notice  the  shifting  of 
seats,  the  bending  and  twisting  that  go  on 
in  church  to  get  within  the  range  of  the 
minister's  eyes,  although  his  voice  may  be 
audible  in  every  part  of  the  building. 

Notice,  too,  the  immediate  effect  upon 
the  congregation  when  he  lays  aside  his 
notes,  takes  off  his  spectacles,  and  illus- 
trates some  point  of  his  sermon  by  an  anec- 
dote. "When  I  was  in  Jerusalem,"  he 
begins,  and  immediately  the  drowsy  awake, 
and  all  wandering  eyes  are  turned  upon 
him. 

Mothers  Should  Learn  the  Art 

There  is  obviously  great  diversity  in  nat- 
ural gift  for  the  art  we  are  urging  upon 
our  readers.  Some  women  are  "  born 
story-tellers,"  as  the  saying  is,  and  these 
are  by  no  means  always  educated  persons 
— in  fact,  are  likely  to  be  the  opposite,  for 
too  early  and  too  much  reading  often 
weaken  the  memory  and  the  power  of 
lively  narration.  Let  us  agree  at  the  out- 
92 


In  a  Nutshell 

set  that  some  mothers  have  little  aptitude 
for  this  branch  of  child  culture,  that  they 
find  it  difficult  to  learn  and  can  never  hope 
to  excel  in  it.  What  then  ?  The  only  re- 
course is  to  begin  very  early  when  the  chil- 
dren are  quite  undeveloped,  confident  that 
by  the  time  they  shall  have  become  critical 
we,  by  much  practice,  shall  have  grown 
nearer  to  perfection.  It  is  folly  to  say  that 
we  cannot  learn  to  do  these  things.  We 
are  not  called  upon  to  write  the  stories, 
nor  even  to  make  them  over;  indeed,  it 
were  best  not  to  make  the  attempt  so  long 
as  there  are  masters  in  literature  to  do  it 
for  us  ;  but  if  we  are  thoroughly  in  ear- 
nest, and  endowed  with  ordinary  gifts,  and 
with  that  "deep  instinct  of  parental  love 
which  has  created  all  educational  systems 
and  institutions,"  we  shall  gain  a  grati- 
fying measure  of  success  in  this  new  field 
of  work. 

Mothers'  Clubs  Should  Study  the  Subject 

It  will  be  well  for  the  members  of  the 

Mothers'  Clubs  to  take  up  story-telling  as 

one   of   their   regular    subjects   of   study. 

93 


The   Kindergarten 

When  the  value  of  the  art  is  understood 
let  certain  typical  stories  be  selected — 
really  fine  ones  which  will  repay  thought 
and  study — and  let  these  be  given  out  to 
various  persons  to  prepare  for  the  next 
meeting.  The  thread  of  the  tale  must,,  of 
course,  be  memorised,  and  as  much  of  the 
language  as  will  make  it  fall  trippingly 
from  the  tongue  without  breaks  or  hesita- 
tion. 

The  first  story  learned  it  may  be  neces- 
sary to  repeat  to  one's  self  a  score  of  times 
before  one  can  feel  sure  enough  of  it  to 
tell  it  aloud,  and  even  then  before  it  is  given 
at  the  club  it  would  be  well  to  try  it  with 
the  children  and  see  how  those  outspoken 
and  competent  critics  regard  it.  The  sec- 
ond effort  will  doubtless  be  much  easier, 
but  no  work  of  this  kind,  however  pro- 
tracted it  may  be,  can  be  considered  wasted, 
for  it  gives  the  best  of  training  to  the  mem- 
ory and  to  the  powers  of  expression,  as  well 
as  furnishes  a  valuable  test  of  self-posses- 
sion and  readiness  for  emergencies. 


94 


In  a  Nutshell 

Selecting  Stories  for  Young  Children 
In  selecting  a  tale  for  young  children  an 
important  tiling  for  the  novice  to  consider 
is  its  length,  and  here  the  size  of  the  audi- 
ence must  be  counted  with  as  well  as  the 
class  of  homes  it  represents.  Your  own 
child,  for  instance,  who  is  accustomed  to 
conversation,  and  has  already  some  com- 
mand of  language,  would  hear  and  profit 
by  a  story  twice  as  long,  perhaps,  as  would 
a  neglected  street  waif  to  whom  the  exer- 
cise is  altogether  new.  It  is  generally  con- 
ceded that  children  of  five  to  seven  years 
do  not  give  close  and  voluntary  attention 
for  more  than  fifteen  minutes  at  a  time, 
and  ten  minutes  will  generally  be  found 
quite  enough  for  a  really  finished  tale  with 
considerable  dramatic  interest,  while  the 
first  essays  in  the  art  need  not  occupy  a 
third  of  this  time. 

The  language  in  which  the  narrative  is 
clothed  must  be  conceded  to  be  a  subject 
of  some  importance  if  we  believe  that  the 
child  is  learning  the  beauties  of  his  mother- 
tongue  as  he  listens.  If,  therefore,  there 
be  any  member  of  the  club  who  is  conscious 
95 


The   Kindergarten 

that  early  associations  are  stronger  than 
education  in  her  case,  and  that  her  expres- 
sions are  not  always  absolutely  accurate 
or  elegant,  it  would  be  well  for  her  to 
memorise  the  tale  entirely,  lest  she  prop- 
agate her  errors  by  trusting  too  much  to 
her  own  diction. 

Poetry  for  Little  Children 
When  we  speak  of  telling  stories  to  the 
little  people  prose  narratives  seem  to  be 
commonly  understood,  and  as  commonly 
used,  but  there  is  no  mistake  greater  than 
to  suppose  that  children  are  not  susceptible 
to  the  charms  of  poetry.  They  care  more 
for  it,  on  the  contrary,  than  the  majority  of 
grown  people,  whether  for  the  melody,  the 
rhythm,  the  rhymes,  the  short  lines,  the 
simplicity  and  picturesqueness  of  expres- 
sion, or  for  all  these  reasons  together, 
which  make  it  a  thing  pleasantly  different 
from  common  speech.  Goethe  advised 
that  every  child  should  see  a  pretty  pic- 
ture and  hear  a  beautiful  poem  every  day, 
and  if  we  would  not  banish  the  charm  of 
poetry  from  mature  life  it  behooves  us  to 
96 


In  a  Nutshell 

follow  his  advice  and  subject  the  child  to 
its  influence  at  the  time  of  greatest  sus- 
ceptibility. 

It  is  unnatural  and  abnormal,  for  in- 
stance, that  in  a  recent  investigation  in  a 
Western  city  of  the  preferences  in  reading 
of  one  thousand  children  from  nine  to  fif- 
teen years  old,  only  ten  girls  and  no  boys 
of  the  former  age,  and  but  a  small  propor- 
tion of  the  older  children,  should  express 
any  interest  in  poetry.  It  follows  either 
that  little  or  no  verse  has  been  read  or  re- 
peated to  them,  and  that  so  the  taste  is 
dormant,  or  that  selections  appropriate  to 
their  years  have  not  been  made. 

To  whatever  cause  the  evil  may  be  due, 
steps  should  be  taken  to  correct  it,  for  to 
be  devoid  of  interest  in  poetry  shuts  one 
off  from  delight  as  much  as  if  one  were 
colour-blind  or  tone-deaf. 

A  Wise  Choice  to  be  Made 
If  all  the  benefits  which  we  have  outlined 
are  to  come  from  the  hearing  of  stories,  it 
follows  that  they  must  be  wisely  chosen ; 
not  only  in  regard  to   the   moral  which 
7  97 


The   Kindergarten 

must  be  a  part  of  their  make-up,  not 
tacked  on  at  the  end  like  a  kite- tail,  but 
as  to  the  themes  they  treat  of  and  the  style 
in  which  they  are  treated.  When  it  comes 
to  the  task  of  choosing,  it  must  be  acknowl- 
edged that  not  every  story  which  appears 
even  in  first-class  juvenile  periodicals  can 
be  recommended  as  appropriate,  and  it  is, 
perhaps,  best  to  confide  in  the  children's 
classics,  those  which  have  triumphantly 
stood  the  test  of  time,  for  general  use,  in- 
terspersing them  now  and  then  with  a  tale 
of  to-day. 

We  must  beware,  however,  of  giving  the 
mind  a  one-sided  development  by  confin- 
ing ourselves  too  much  to  one  branch  of 
literature;  we  must  include  in  our  reper- 
tory some  well-selected  myths,  fairy  stories 
which  are  pure  and  spiritual  in  tone,  a 
fable  now  and  then,  nature  stories,  hero 
tales,  animal  anecdotes,  occasional  narra- 
tives about  good,  wholesome  children, 
neither  prigs  nor  infant  villains,  plenty  of 
fine  verses  and  ballads,  as  has  been  said, 
and,  for  the  older  ones  of  the  family, 
legends,  allegories,  historic  happenings, 
98 


In  a  Nutshell 

and  tales  of  travel  and  adventure.  These 
must  be  administered  according  to  the  age 
and  development  of  the  little'ones  under 
our  care,  and  diversified  to  suit  their  sev- 
eral and  particular  needs.  More  explicit 
or  fuller  directions  can  hardly  be  given 
without  knowledge  of  the  special  case  in 
question,  for  only  a  quack  sells  a  nostrum 
warranted  to  cure  every  ill  of  the  flesh,  no 
matter  when  and  how  administered. 

All  Children, Love  the  Old  Favourites 
A  large  stock  of  stories  is  not  essential 
for  little  children.  They  feel,  as  Bulwer 
said,  the  beauty  and  the  holiness  that  dwell 
in  the  customary  and  the  old ;  and  they  are 
well  pleased — and  it  is  best  that  it  should 
be  so — with  hearing  the  same  old  favourites 
repeated  again  and  again,  in  song  or  story. 

Gestures  and  Illustrations 
We  kindergarten  people  believe  in  ac- 
companying a  story  for  the   babies  with 
natural,  descriptive  gestures,  which  seem 
frequently  to  illuminate  the  meaning  of 
the  words,  and  also  with  pictures  or  rapid 
99 


The   Kindergarten 

sketches,  but  these  are  not  essential  in 
dealing  with  a  few  children  in  the  home. 
It  is  an  admirable  idea,  too,  to  encourage 
the  children  to  become  illustrators  occasion- 
ally, for  when  they  are  carried  away  by  the 
spirit  of  the  narrative  they  occasionally  do 
very  good  work.  Even  when  this  is  not 
the  case,  their  drawings  are  still  valuable, 
for  they  show  just  how  much  of  the  plot 
has  been  understood,  what  points  have  been 
especially  appreciated  and  most  deeply  im- 
pressed, and  also,  sometimes,  into  what  dire 
mistakes  and  errors  the  unfortunate  story- 
teller has  fallen. 

Where  May  Good  Stories  be  Found? 
As  to  the  source  whence  the  best  stories 
for  little  people  may  be  drawn,  the  various 
kindergarten  magazines  are  glad  to  furnish 
expert  advice  on  the  subject;  publishers 
of  the  standard  juvenile  periodicals  have 
always  many  appropriate  books,  both  in 
prose  and  verse,  upon  their  lists;  all  kin- 
dergarten training  teachers  will  count  it  a 
pleasure  to  assist  an  earnest  mother  in  her 
quest  for  good  literature,  and  any  intelli- 
100 


In  a  Nutshell 

gent  and  experienced  kindergartner  will 
cheerfully  give  directions  to  the  storehouses 
from  which  she  draws  her  stock  of  tales. 

The  National  Congress  of  Mothers,  if  a 
fuller  list  be  required,  has  just  sent  out  a 
pamphlet  on  children's  literature  which 
is  full  of  good  suggestions  and  carefully 
classified,  and  is  provided  with  a  price-list 
and  names  of  publishers.* 

There  is  no  lack  of  material,  then,  and 
no  lack  of  advisers;  there  is  certainly  no 
lack  of  hearers,  for,  failing  children  of -our 
own,  there  are  always  the  waifs  of  the  hos- 
pitals, asylums,  shelters,  refuges,  and 
foundling  homes  to  whom  every  right- 
minded  woman's  thoughts  must  go  out  in 
love  and  pity.  No,  there  is  no  lack  but 
one — that  of  desire  to  enter  upon  this  work 
that  blesses  him  that  gives  and  him  that 
takes,  and  only  one  place  to  find  it — in 
your  own  heart. 

*  Many  stories  and  books  for  children  are  rec- 
ommended in  "  The  Republic  of  Childhood." 


101 


The  Kindergarten 
CHAPTER  VI 

COME    AND    PLAY    WITH    US 

Do  you  know  those  curious  artificers  who 
carve  long  passages  from  the  Koran  on  the 
polished  shell  of  a  walnut,  or  inscribe  the 
Beatitudes  on  a  cherry-stone  ? 

Such  a  craftsman  must  be  the  writer 
who  attempts  to  give  the  import  of  the 
kindergarten  songs  and  games  in  a  single 
chapter,  and,  like  most  of  the  walnut-shell 
inscriptions,  it  will  doubtless  require  to  be 
read  by  the  aid  of  a  magnify  ing-glass. 

It  is  fortunate,  however,  that  the  neces- 
sary instrument  is  already  in  the  hands  of 
every  woman  who  reads  this  handbook, 
however  poor  and  humble  she  may  be,  and 
its  mountings  are  wrought  of  interest  and 
observation  and  its  lenses  are  of  love. 

Froebel's  songs  and  games,  as  he  hands 
them  down  to  us  in  the  "  Mother-Play  " 
(Mutter-und-Kose-Lieder),  were  the  prod- 
uct of  long,  patient,  and  tender  observation 
102 


In  a  Nutshell 

of  mother  and  child  as  they  played  freely 
and  unconsciously  together.  The  mother's 
instincts,  thought  Froebel,  if  she  be  one  of 
God's  mothers,  are  commonly  to  be  trusted 
in  what  concerns  the  welfare  of  her  little 
one,  but  since  she  has  ceased  to  be  purely 
an  instinctive  creature  she  needs  an  expla- 
nation and  a  guide  for  the  impulses  which 
arise  within  her.  She  may  touch  exactly 
the  right  note  in  some  play  she  devises  for 
the  baby,  but  through  failure  to  under- 
stand the  meaning  and  importance  of  her 
act  she  may  either  never  repeat  it,  or,  re- 
peating it,  omit  its  essential  features. 

The  Vital  Thing  in  the  Mother's  Plays 
The  vital  thing  in  all  these  fond,  caress- 
ing mother-plays,  this  tender,  coaxing, 
half -sportive,  half -serious  intercourse,  is 
that  it  shall  be  begun  early  enough  and 
seriously  enough.  The  mother  errs  deeply, 
says  Froebel,  and  errs  to  the  great  detri- 
ment of  the  whole  future  life  of  her  help- 
less infant,  if  she  doubts  that  he  is  suscep- 
tible to  her  words,  actions,  feelings,  and 
thoughts. 

103 


The  Kindergarten 

He  is  affected  by  them  as  the  kernel  hid- 
den deep  in  the  earth  or  the  bud  on  the 
tree  covered  by  hard  scales  is  sensitive  to 
the  return  of  the  spring  or  even  to  a  warm 
but  evanescent  breath  of  air.  And  clearly 
it  must  be  so,  Froebel  goes  on  to  say,  "  for 
that  which  can  develop  and  originate,  and 
is  intended  to  do  so,  begins,  and  must  be- 
gin, when  as  yet  nothing  exists  but  the 
conditions."  Mrs.  Browning,  mother  and 
poet  too,  expressed  to  perfection  the  whole 
philosophy  of  the  thing  when  she  said: 

"  Women  know 

The  way  to  rear  up  children  (to  be  just) ; 
They  know  a  simple,  merry,  tender  knack 
Of  tying  sashes,  fitting  baby-shoes, 
And  stringing  pretty  words  that  make  no  sense, 
And  kissing  full  sense  into  empty  words ; 
Which  things  are  corals  to  cut  life  upon, 
Although  such  trifles. " 


Study  of  the  " Mother-Play" 

To  thoroughly  understand  Froebel's  idea 
of  play  and  its  connection  with  later  knowl- 
edge and  being,  to  appreciate  his  convic- 
104 


In  a  Nutshell 

tion  of  the  supreme  importance  of  the  germ 
stage  of  life  and  what  he  considers  the  true 
relation  which  should  exist  between  mother 
and  child,  it  is  necessary  to  give  exhaustive 
study  to  the  "  Mother-Play,"  which  is  the 
broad  foundation  for  those  "  corals  to  cut 
life  upon,"  the  kindergarten  songs  and 
games.  Some  reference  was  made  to  this 
book  in  the  first  chapter  of  this  handbook, 
and  it  was  advised  that  the  Mothers'  Clubs 
should  take  it  as  a  subject  of  serious  study. 
It  is  full  of  meaning  from  cover  to  cover, 
and  including  the  cover,  which  bears  a 
symbolic  picture  showing  the  mother  with 
her  children,  crowned  with  oak  leaves,  her 
eyes  turned  heavenward,  her  path  strewn 
with  thorns  and  roses,  and  the  father  with 
his  sword  and  eagle  helmet  tenderly  lead- 
ing the  older  son  and  daughter  over  the 
rough  stones  of  life. 

Each  picture  should  be  carefully  studied, 
for  they  were  all  made  by  FroebePs  direc- 
tions and  under  his  own  eye,  and  are  full 
of  significant  details.  The  motto  for  the 
mother  and  the  song  for  the  child  may 
then  be  taken  up,  and  it  will  be  a  most 
105 


The   Kindergarten 

interesting  exercise  to  see  how  far  their 
inmost  meaning  can  be  deciphered  before 
turning  to  Froebel's  own  interpretations 
which  accompany  the  volume.  These, 
also,  need  most  careful  reading  and  expla- 
nation, and  it  need  discourage  no  one  if  at 
first  they  seem  to  be  somewhat  obscure  and 
mystical,  for  kindergartners  who  have  spent 
years  in  studying  the  book  never  take  it  up 
without  finding  a  new  truth  somewhere  in 
its  pages. 

It  will  be  advisable,  also,  for  the  differ- 
ent members  of  the  club,  remembering 
that  all  the  infantile  experiences  given  in 
the  book  are  typical  ones,  to  try  and  recall 
corresponding  incidents  in  their  own  lives 
and  those  of  their  children,  and  any  famil- 
iar nursery  plays  which  they  may  already 
know  that  seem  to  be  written  on  the  same 
lines. 

Nor  must  we  be  content  merely  to  re- 
ceive each  song  as  a  text  for  memorising, 
but  we  must  write  a  sermon  on  it  and  give 
it  a  practical  application.  The  thought 
must  be,  not  only  what  does  the  motto 
mean  to  me,  and  what  is  the  deepest  truth 
106 


In  a  Nutshell 

in  the  child-song,  but  how  can  I  use  both 
in  the  nursery,  here  and  now  ? 

Although  the  essence  of  the  kindergar- 
ten games  is  cooperation,  and  although  we 
feel  that  one  of  their  highest  values  is  the 
training  which  they  give  in  the  social  vir- 
tues, yet  when  we  study  their  originals 
in  the  "Mother-Play"  we  discover  that 
they  were  obviously  written  for  mother 
and  child  alone,  and  need  no  other  and 
no  dearer  participants.  Here,  then,  the 
lonely  woman  in  the  lighthouse,  and  her 
no  less  lonely  sister  on  the  cattle-ranch  or 
in  the  mining-camp,  uncounted  miles  from 
neighbours,  may  find  solace  in  the  thought 
that  Froebel  remembered  them  in  their 
solitude  and  gave  them  in  this  book  a 
means  of  full  development  for  themselves 
and  their  children. 

The  Games  Illustrate  Universal  Experiences 

The  games  in  the    "Mother- Play,"  it 
should  be  understood,  deal  with  the  uni- 
versal  experiences  which   come  to  every 
child  and  which  every  mother  will  recog- 
107 


The  Kindergarten 

nise  as  familiar.  The  words  Froebel  some- 
times recalled  from  his  own  childhood, 
sometimes  found  in  use  in  simple,  peasant 
homes,  and  he  adapted  or  rewrote  the  more 
useful  ones  for  this  volume,  while  he  often 
framed  new  verses  to  illustrate  instinctive 
acts  of  the  child  which  he  observed  or 
which  were  repeated  to  him. 

All  the  songs — for,  alas!  the  great  child- 
lover  was  childless  himself — were  tried 
from  time  to  time  by  mothers  of  his  ac- 
quaintance with  their  babies,  and  were 
changed  as  experience  seemed  to  demand, 
so  that  all  have  borne  the  test  of  practice. 

They  begin  with  the  "Kicking  Song," 
or  "Play  with  the  Limbs,"  illustrating 
th-e  common  habit  of  infants  of  lying  on 
their  backs  and  tramping  the  feet,  as  if  to 
anticipate  walking.  The  mother  shown 
in  the  accompanying  picture  feels  instinc- 
tively that  the  baby  seeks  for  something  by 
which  to  measure  his  strength,  and  holds 
her  hands  so  that  his  feet  may  alternately 
strike  against  them,  while  she  sings  a  song 
of  the  mill  as  it  crushes  the  seeds  to  make 
oil  for  the  night-lamp.  And  this  is  Froe- 
108 


In  a  Nutshell 

bel's   comment   upon    the   action   in   the 
motto : 

"  This  is  not  mere  fond  caprice — 
God  inspires  the  pretty  strife ; 
She  is  leading  the  beginner 
Through  the  outer  to  the  inner 
Of  his  groping  life." 

Games  Which  Help  the  Body  and  the  Hands 

Next  comes  the  little  play  called  ' '  Falling, 
Falling,"  which  is  intended  to  strengthen 
the  whole  body  as  well  as  to  give  a  spirit- 
ual impression.  The  infant  lies  upon  a 
cushion  and  the  mother  lifts  him  a  little 
from  his  reclining  posture,  letting  him  slip 
back  again  with  a  slight  shock,  just  enough 
to  make  him  realise  the  difference  between 
here  and  there,  rising  and  falling,  support 
and  loss  of  support,  union  and  separation, 
and  at  the  same  time  leading  him  to  appre- 
ciate his  own  strength. 

The  next  two  songs,  the  "  Weathercock  " 
and  "  All  Gone,"  will  be  recognised  as  old 
favourites  in  every  nursery,  and  here  the 
movement  of  hands  and  fingers  begins  and 
is  continued  to  the  end  of  the  book.  Froe- 
109 


The   Kindergarten 

bel  had,  of  course,  noticed  that  the  hands 
and  fingers  are  the  earliest  parts  of  the 
physical  self  to  attract  attention,  and  his 
knowledge  of  that  fact  is  shown  by  the  vari- 
ous songs  in  which  the  fingers  are  named 
and  counted,  put  to  sleep,  made  to  dance 
and  play,  and  taught  to  greet  each  other.  • 

These  songs  were  devised  not  only  to 
give  strength  and  suppleness  to  these  mem- 
bers, but — and  this  is  far  more  important 
— by  attaching  a  playful  meaning  to  their 
movements,  to  interest  the  mind  in  them 
and  lift  them  out  of  the  domain  of  the 
purely  physical. 

The  finger-songs  are  favourites  in  every 
kindergarten;  not  only  the  old  "Mother- 
Play  "  originals  being  sung,  but  numbers 
of  dainty  new  ones  framed  on  the  same 
lines  with  which  all  the  standard  music 
books  are  provided.* 

There  are  songs,  too,  in  the  "Mother- 
Play  "  for  exercising  the  senses,  and  these, 

*  Miss  Emelie  Poulsson  of  Boston  has  written 
so  many  of  these  charming  songs,  every  one  of 
which  would  be  a  home  delight,  that  she  is  begin- 
ning to  be  known  as  "The  Finger-Play  Lady." 
110 


In  a   Nutshell 

with  their  modern  variants,  should  be  used 
in  every  nursery.  Mothers  have  always 
done  a  little  of  this  sense-training  with  an 
instinctive  knowledge  of  its  mental  and 
spiritual  value,  but  Froebel  explains  to 
them  the  meaning  of  their  instinct,  and 
provides  ample  means  to  gratify  it. 

There  is  a  "  Pat-a-Cake  "  song,  too,  in 
this  wonderful  book,  even  better  than  our 
own  old  favourite;  songs  about  the  sweet, 
familiar  things  of  daily  life — chickens, 
pigeons,  birds'  nests,  flowers,  stars,  and 
sunshine;  and  there  are  shadow  plays  that 
the  father  can  use  with  the  baby  at  night 
when  the  lamps  are  lighted. 

These  Mother-Play  Songs  are  All  Simple 
There  are  beautiful  versions  of  those 
games  of  Bo-Peep  and  Hide  and  Seek 
which  every  one  instinctively  plays  with 
babies,  and  there  are  games  which  take 
up  trade  life  and  sing  of  the  joiner,  the 
carpenter,  the  baker,  and  the  wheelwright. 
Everything  is  here,  in  suggestion  at  least, 
down  to  the  Church  songs,  which  close 
the  volume,  and  to  the  "  Little  Artist," 
111 


The   Kindergarten 

wherein  the  child  who  is  older  grown  is 
seeking  to  give  out  again  the  many  im- 
pressions which  have  crowded  in  upon  his 
brain. 

There  are  now  three  English  translations 
of  the  "  Mother-Play,"  the  latest  of  which, 
hy  Miss  Susan  Blow,  is  provided  with  new 
music  and  words  for  all  the  songs — music 
which,  as  Charles  Keade  said  of  the  Breton 
ditties,  "  is  tunable  as  the  lark  that  carols 
over  the  green  wheat  in  April, ' '  and  i '  words 
so  simple  and  motherly  that  a  nation  might 
take  them  to  heart."  * 

From  these  "  Mother-Play "  songs,  as 
already  said,  the  entire  scheme  of  modern 
kindergarten  games  is  developed,  and 
though  all  may  be  played  by  mother  and 
child  alone,  almost  all  may  be  expanded 
to  suit  a  circle  of  children  in  nursery  or 
kindergarten,  and  thus  be  made  a  thou- 
sandfold more  useful  and  delightful. 

We  cannot  estimate  ^too  highly  the  value 

*  Miss  Blow  has  just  published  a  volume  of 
commentaries  on  the  "  Mother-Play"  and  on  the 
philosophy  of  Froebel,  entitled  "Letters  to  a 
Mother."  * 

112 


In  a  Nutshell 

of  companionship  to  children,  the  worth 
of  a  social  intercourse  between  equals,  and 
this  is  brought  out  marvellously  in  these 
games  of  Froebel.  Here  each  child  be- 
comes so  interested  that  he  would  gladly 
play  every  part  in  each  small  drama  him- 
self, yet  he  can  do  nothing  alone,  and  very 
soon  he  sees  that  the  cooperation  of  others 
is  necessary  if  there  is  to  be  any  real  hap- 
piness. 

Lessons  in  Citizenship  are  Taught 
No  moral  lecture  is  needed  to  teach  a 
child  that  "  joy  flies  monopolists";  he 
sees  it  illustrated  under  his  own  eyes,  and, 
led  by  the  teaching,  learns  to  surrender  his 
selfish  desires  to  the  common  good.  He 
learns  here  also,  for  his  playmates  teach  it, 
that  first  lesson  of  a  good  citizen,  that  the 
amount  of  liberty  he  can  enjoy  is  depend- 
ent upon  his  non-interference  with  the 
rights  of  others,  and  thus,  in  baby  fashion, 
he  prepares  himself  for  later  civic  life. 
There  is  no  time  when  the  child  so  fully 
and  unconsciously  reveals  himself,  his 
strength  and  his  weakness,  as  in  the  kin- 
8  113 


The   Kindergarten 

dergarten  games,  and  therefore  there  is  no 
time  better  suited  to  studying  his  person- 
ality and  deciding  upon  what  it  needs  for 
harmonious  development. 

Value  of  Musical  Training 

When  we  begin  to  think  of  introducing 
FroebePs  songs  and  games  to  the  life  of 
the  home,  we  must  consider  as  another  ad- 
vantage the  musical  training  which  they 
give.  It  is  sometimes  objected  that  for 
children  who  have  no  musical  taste  time 
is  wasted  on  such  training,  but  the  objec- 
tion rests  on  a  false  foundation,  for  it  may 
boldly  be  said  that  there  are  no  such  chil- 
dren. They  all  care  for  music;  they  are 
all  quite  willing  to  sing  at  first,  or  until, 
if  they  are  tone-deaf,  harsh  criticism  or 
ridicule  have  made  them  conscious  of  their 
deficiency.  It  may  be  questioned,  indeed, 
whether  any  such  deficiency  would  persist 
in  after  life  if  they  began  to  sing  early 
enough,  and  every  kindergartner  who  has 
watched  the  musical  development  of  a  child 
who  for  months  growled  monotonously  and 
114 


In   a  Nutshell 

cheerfully  along  on  a  single  note,  will  agree 
with  the  writer  in  her  skepticism. 

There  seems  to  be  nothing  which  so 
unites  a  family  as  singing  together,  and 
these  kindergarten  songs  are,  for  the  most 
part,  so  simple,  so  melodious,  and  at  the 
same  time  so  full  of  interest  that  the  older 
boys  and  girls  of  the  flock  commonly  de- 
lighb  to  learn  them  also  and  to  help  the 
babies  to  illustrate  them.  Any  person  of 
good  taste  who  has  tried  to  find  appropri- 
ate songs  for  little  children  knows  how 
difficult  it  is  to  discover  anything  which 
is  not,  on  the  one  hand,  silly  or  vapid  or 
absolutely  nonsensical;  or,  on  the  other, 
sentimental,  high-flown,  or  inappropriate 
in  subject  and  treatment.  Kindergarten 
songs,  whatever  they  may  lack  in  other 
directions,  are  always  appropriate  to  child- 
ish interests,  and  it  may  also  generally  be 
said  in  their  praise  that  there  is  a  some- 
thing in  them  which  appeals  to  the  spirit- 
ual and  mental  faculties  of  the  singer,  as 
well  as  to  his  aesthetic  taste. 

Should  they  lack  this  higher  element, 
this  over-tone,  they  would  fail  entirely  in 
* 


The  Kindergarten 

their  supreme  object,  for  they  were  meant, 
as  W.  L.  Tomlins  has  said,  "  to  search  out 
the  flower-germs  of  the  soul,  awakening 
them  to  response  and  stimulating  them  to 
a  largeness  of  growth  that  leaves  no  place 
for  weeds." 

Classes  of  Kindergarten  Games 
A  great  variety  of  kindergarten  music-, 
books  is  now  to  be  had,  and  not  one  of 
them,  be  it  the  least  upon  the  list,  but 
contains  some  songs  which  the  children 
will  enjoy  and  by  which  they  may  profit. 
Broadly  speaking,  they  all  deal  in  different 
ways  and  in  varying  degrees  of  merit  with 
these  three  great  classes  of  plays:  those 
treating  of  the  family  and  the  home;  of 
Nature  and  the  Ijfe  of  Nature,  and  of  the 
trades  and  industries.  One  might  classify 
and  sub-classify  under  these  heads  to  an 
extent  of  several  pages,  perhaps,  and  might 
add  a  few  minor  headings,  but  these  are  at 
least  the  largest  and  most  important,  and 
should  all  be  used  in  our  home  and  neigh- 
bourhood work.  If  several  versions  of  the 
same  game  are  found  in  the  books  at  your 
116 


In  a  Nutshell 

command,  that  one  having  the  best  music 
and  most  poetic  words  is,  of  course,  to  be 
selected,  for  it  should  be  our  greatest  effort 
in  the  kindergarten  to  come  as  near  perfec- 
tion as  possible  in  our  setting  of  the  sub- 
jects we  present  to  the  children. 

How  the  Games  are  to  be  Played 
As  to  the  way  in  which  the  games  are  to 
be  conducted,  some  .idea  may  be  obtained 
from  the  "  Mother-Play,"  from  the  music- 
books,  from  treatises  on  the  kindergarten, 
and  from  the  children  themselves,  who  can 
often  give  ideas  on  dramatisation  if  they 
are  encouraged  to  express  them.  It  would, 
of  course,  be  an  invaluable  assistance  to 
the  novice  who  is  attempting  to  conduct 
Froebel's  games  among  the  children  of  her 
neighbourhood  if  she  could  spend  a  few 
mornings  in  a  good  child-garden  and  catch 
some  of  the  spirit,  the  happiness,  the  inno- 
cent gayety  and  enthusiasm  which  belong 
to  true  kindergarten  play.  Failing  this, 
some  interested  kindergartner  might  per- 
haps be  induced  to  spend  an  afternoon  with 
the  Mothers'  Club,  and,  taking  up  some  of 
117 


The   Kindergarten 

the  standard  games,  teach  the  members  how 
to  play  them.  If  neither  of  these  things 
can  be  managed,  all  is  not  lost  if  we  remem- 
ber that  these  are  movement  plays,  to  be 
used  by  a  circle  of  children  (always  a  cir- 
cle), and  are  to  be  accompanied  by  gestures 
and  imitative  activities.  .They  are  to  be 
played,  not  merely  sung,  and  all  the  chil- 
dren are  to  be  encouraged  to  take  part  in 
them.  The  majority  of  the  traditional 
games  of  children  are  played  in  a  ring  and 
accompanied  by  singing  and  movements, 
and  as  all  of  us  have  engaged  in  them  in 
our  time,  the  method  in  which  they  were 
managed  will  be  remembered  as  a  hint  in 
conducting  these  far  more  beautiful  and 
spiritual  plays  of  Froebel.* 

Learning  to  Play  with  Children 
It  may  be  said,  parenthetically,  that  this 
learning  to  play  with  and  like  children  is, 
like  everything  connected  with  the  kinder- 
garten, as  much  a  blessing  to  women  as  to 
those  they  serve.  We  have  far  too  little 

*  Several   chapters  on   play   will  be  found   in 
"  The  Republic  of  Childhood,"  Vol.  III. 
118 


In  a  Nutshell 

play  in  this  country — hearty,  physical  play 
that  sets  the  blood  tingling  and  gives  the 
delight  of  rhythmic  motion,  and  one  wel- 
comes it  as  a  sign  of  a  return  to  the  Gold- 
en Age  when  one  sees  the  joyousness  of 
kindergartners  at  their  festivals,  and  the 
wholesome  way  in  which  they  surrender 
themselves  to  the  play-spirit. 

And  here  is  a  field  for  women  who  are 
neither  mothers  nor  teachers,  but  who  have 
become  touched  with  the  magic  of  the  kin- 
dergarten games.  Let  them  go  out  into  the 
highways  and  hedges,  or  into  the  streets 
and  alleys  for  the  older  children,  the  neg- 
lected, untutored  boys  and  girls,  sharp  and 
painfully  precocious  from  crowded  city  life, 
or  dull-witted  and  heavy  from  rustic  seclu- 
sion and  lack  of  training.  When  they  are 
gathered  together,  teach  them  to  play — it 
is  no  easy  task — after  the  kindergarten 
ideal,  but  games  somewhat  more  advanced 
and  requiring  greater  skill  and  ability,  and 
see  how  you  waken  the  imagination  and 
the  powers  of  loving  and  hoping  and  dream- 
ing, and  how  you  touch  to  finer  issues  every 
faculty  which  before  lay  close-folded  under 
119 


The  Kindergarten 

the  hard  crust  of  every-day  life.  It  will 
not  be  a  new  experiment;  you  need  not 
stand  back  doubting  whether  it  can  suc- 
ceed, and  fearing  to  enlist  in  an  uncertain 
cause,  for  in  both  England  and  America 
and  wherever  the  Social  Settlement  has 
planted  its  banners,  you  will  find  that  play 
is  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  most  hopeful 
educational  agencies  for  the  neglected 
child. 

Value  of  the  Kindergarten  Games 

It  cannot  be  said  too  often  that  the  kin- 
dergarten games  hold  what  is  highest  and 
best  in  Froebel's  philosophy,  and  for  those 
who  are  interested  in  the  training  of  chil- 
dren no  time  can  be  better  spent  than  in 
studying  them. 

Not  only  are  they  of  the  greatest  service 
in  cultivating  the  spiritual  nature  and  in 
fostering  the  civic  virtues,  but  they  give 
most  valuable  physical  development  and  a 
training  to  the  mind  which  nothing  else 
can  supply. 

In  estimating  their  worth  to  the  child, 
add  the  influence  of  poetry  to  the  influence 
120 


In  a  Nutshell 

of  music  and  of  gesture,  set  down  in  the 
column  the  sympathetic  comprehension 
which  they  give  of  Nature  and  human  re- 
lationships, of  the  value  of  labour,  of  time 
and  order,  of  dependence  and  interdepend- 
ence, of  care  and  protection,  of  love  and 
duty,  and  multiply  the  sum  by  the  compan- 
ionship of  other  children.  The  product 
will  be  an  astonishing  one,  such  an  array 
of  figures  that  we  cannot  attempt  to  take 
them  in,  but  can  only  gaze  upon  them  in 
wonder  as  they  stretch  across  the  page. 

The  Right  Hand  Must  Guide  the  Work 

But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  to  ob- 
tain this  product  you  must  have  the  right 
multiplier  and  the  right  multiplicand,  and 
though  you  'possess  the  former,  the  latter 
will  not  be  yours  until  the  right  numbers 
have  been  added  together  to  make  it. 

And  even  then,  when  all  the  essentials 
have  been  gathered,  the  arithmetical  pro- 
cess will  not  perform  itself.  The  right 
hand  must  hold  the  pencil  in  the  kinder- 
garten, as  in  all  other  work,  and  behind 
121 


The   Kindergarten 

the  hand  must  be  the  brain  to  think,  the 
heart  to  love,  and  the  soul  to  aspire. 

Froebel  was  thinking  of  the  ideal  leader 
of  children,  whether  mother  or  teacher, 
when  he  said : 

"  With  each  caress,  each  care,  each  merry  play 

Her  own  soul  deepens  for  God's  love ; 
And  as  the  sun  with  fervent  ray 

Draws  each  small  flower  to  look  above, 
She  draws  her  child's  soul  forth  to  meet  her 

own, 
And  learns  that  love,  in  earth  and  Heaven,  is 


122 


In  a  Nutshell 
CHAPTER  VII 

COME,   LET   US   LIVE  WITH  OUR   CHILDREN 

IT  has  lately  been  said  by  one  of  our 
most  thoughtful  and  far-seeing  American 
writers  that  the  kindergarten  movement 
promised  to  become  the  most  important 
feature  of  contemporary  educational  his- 
tory. Those  of  us  who  are  in  the  midst  of 
the  current  have  long  felt  that  this  must 
be  true,  but  it  is  so  difficult  to  make  an 
impartial  estimate  of  the  force  that  sweeps 
one's  own  life  along,  that  it  is  well  to  have 
the  final  judgment  pronounced  by  those 
whose  ships  are  afloat  on  other  waters. 

It  is  not  alone  that  here  and  there  over 
the  country,  wherever  superintendents  and 
school  boards  have  recognised  the  value 
of  the  Froebel  idea,  that  steps  have  been 
taken  to  make  it  the  initial  stage  of  educa- 
tion; it  is  not  alone  that  training  schools 
for  kindergartners  multiply  with  each  year, 
and  with  each  year  the  number  of  their 
123 


The  Kindergarten 

students  increases;  it  is  not  alone  that  the 
National  Educational  Association  now  gives 
the  kindergarten  an  honoured  place  upon 
its  programmes,  and  the  International  Kin- 
dergarten Union  annually  holds  crowded 
conferences  in  various  cities  of  the  United 
States;  it  is  not  alone  these  things,  but  the 
fact  that  behind  them  all  is  the  tremen- 
dous spiritual  force  of  Froebel's  philosophy 
as  it  has  become  a  motive  power  in  the 
hearts  of  women. 

Power  of  Froebel's  Philosophy 
It  is  impossible  to  think  of  the  kinder- 
garten as  you  would  of  any  other  system  of 
education,  for  it  is  infinitely  more  than 
this;  it  is  a  philosophy  of  life,  a  gospel  of 
good  works,  and  an  interpreter  of  religions. 
It  does  not  address  women  alone,  but  it 
has  for  them  a  special  message — a  message 
that  they  yearn  to  hear  even  while  yet  its 
import  is  unknown  to  them,  a  message  that 
once  heard  will  be  repeated  to  another,  and 
to  another  still,  until  the  earth  is  filled 
with  the  sound  thereof. 

*There  is  something  about  the  kindergar- 
124 


In  a  Nutshell 

ten  that  is  like  the  sweep  of  a  great,  new 
faith;  its  votaries  are  enthusiasts,  and  they 
will  not  be  withheld  from  preaching  and 
teaching.  To  give  an  illustration,  not 
long  ago  two  women  in  the  middle  West 
fitted  up  their  own  travelling  carriage,  and 
drove  day  after  day  through  great  sections 
of  country  for  no  other  purpose  than  that 
they  might  hold  open-air  meetings  on  the 
subject  of  the  kindergarten. 

A  solitary  instance,  you  say,  and  one 
perhaps  never  to  be  repeated.  Very  likely; 
but  what  does  it  show  as  to  the  strength 
of  the  idea?  Did  you  ever  hear  of  a 
teacher  so  impressed  with  the  value  of  the 
Grube  system,  for  example,  that  he  went 
out  into  the  wilderness  to  preach  its  doc- 
trines, or  so  thrilled  with  the  power  of  the 
Sheldonian  method  of  object-teaching  that, 
like  the  Ancient  Mariner,  he  detained  each 
wedding  guest  he  met  that  he  might  talk 
of  it  ?  No,  depend  upon  it,  the  power  of 
the  kindergarten  is  unique.  Attack  it,  lay 
siege  to  it  as  you  will,  pull  it  down  in  one 
place,  riddle  it  with  shot  in  another,  lay 
low  its  towers,  destroy  its  battlements,  and 
125 


The   Kindergarten 

when  your  warfare  is  over,  the  castle  is 
still  there  to  be  rebuilt  and  lived  in,  for 
you  have  not  stirred  a  single  rock  of  its 
foundations. 

Women's  Work  for  Children 
Within  the  last  decade  those  who  are  in- 
terested in  work  for  children  have  noted 
that  a  great  impetus  has  been  given  to  the 
various  movements  which  may  be  classed 
under  this  head,  and  have  rightly  ascribed 
to  the  kindergarten  and  to  the  kindergart- 
ner  the  growing  interest  taken  by  women 
all  over  the  country  in  their  special  duties 
and  responsibilities.  There  is  scarcely  a 
large  town  in  America  to-day  where  there 
is  not  a  branch  of  the  Mothers'  Congress, 
a  Woman's  Club  devoted  to  children  and 
their  interests,  a  Child-Study  Circle,  or  a 
Parents'  Association. 

And  for  those  persons  (generally  men) 
skeptical  of  the  advantages  of  clubs,  and 
prone  to  believe  that  ideas  evaporate  there 
in  the  heat  of  conversation,  it  may  be  said 
that  in  these  same  centres  of  civilisation 
there  are  numerous  courses  of  lectures 
126 


In  a  Nutshell 

every  season,  given  by  wise  and  eminent 
persons  on  matters  pertaining  to  the  men- 
tal, physical,  and  spiritual  nature  of  the 
child,  which  women  may  attend  without 
other  responsibility  than  that  of  lending 
a  decorous  and  dignified  ear. 

Some  of  the  Froebel  training  schools  of 
our  country  are  now  opening  special  depart- 
ments for  the  education  of  women  in  the 
line  of  their  first  duties.  The  Chautauqua 
Summer  School  has  this  year  inaugurated 
a  series  of  parents'  meetings  under  the  de- 
partment of  pedagogy,  and  in  various  places 
an  especially  useful  work  is  well  begun — 
that  of  the  proper  training  of  nurse-maids 
according  to  FroebePs  principles. 

The  directors  of  the  free  kindergartens, 
too,  are  answerable  for  the  really  fine  and 
encouraging  work  which  is  going  on  every- 
where under  their  auspices,  for  the  ignorant 
mothers  in  their  especial  corner  of  the  com- 
munity, women  who,  whether  Americans 
or  foreigners,  are  often  as  well-intentioned 
as  the  best  of  us;  who  only  appear  dull  and 
hard  because  of  the  dulness  and  hardness 
of  their  lives,  and  who  are  most  responsive 
127 


01  tr 


The  Kindergarten 

to  good  influences  when  once  their  hearts 
have  been  unlocked  by  those  magic  words, 
"  the  children."  If  the  kindergarten  had 
never  been  and  would  never  be  anything 
else  but  an  uplifting  power,  a  sweet,  saving 
grace,  a  grammar  of  life  to  these  women, 
we  might  .still  with  reason  expend  upon  it 
all  our  enthusiasm. 


Kindergarten  and  School  United 

Still  further  must  its  influence  reach, 
however,  for  it  must  bring  continuity  to 
the  child's  life,  it  must  carry  its  principles 
over  into  the  school,  and  make  of  mother, 
kindergartner,  and  teacher  a  harmonious 
trio  working  together  for  the  good  of  their 
common  charge — a  weighty  and  an  impor- 
tant trio,  too,  one  wielding  great  power,  and 
to  be  counted  with  when  dangers  threaten 
the  integrity  of  our  educational  institu- 
tions. 

The  kindergarten  has  not  always  done 
its  duty  in  this  direction,  it  must  be  con- 
fessed, and  has  sometimes  fancied  it  was 
sufficient  unto  itself,  and  had  nothing  to 
128 


In  a  Nutshell 

lend  to  or  borrow  from  the  school,  but 
this  error  of  judgment  is  being  corrected 
now  that  it  has  grown  older  and  wiser,  and 
it  has  begun  to  exercise  its  precious  right 
of  cooperating  with  the  other  educational 
forces  of  the  community. 

Child-Study 

One  of  these  educational  forces,  espe- 
cially strong  in  America  at  present,  is  that 
of  child-study.  In  other  countries  great 
interest  is  also  felt  in  this  subject,  but  in 
the  United  States  remarkable  progress  has 
been  made  and  valuable  results  obtained, 
largely  through  the  enthusiasm  of  Dr.  G. 
Stanley  Hall  and  his  remarkable  power  of 
communicating  that  enthusiasm  not  only 
to  his  colleagues,  but  to  the  teaching  world. 
The  kindergarten  already  owes  much  to 
the  new  science,  but  should  it  be  more 
greatly  indebted  in  the  future,  the  account 
would  still  be  no  more  than  balanced,  for 
it  was  Froebel  who  gave  the  impetus  to 
much  of  the  work,  and  he  who  may  well 
be  called  "  the  father  of  child-study.'' 

It  is  a  science  to  which  parents  have 
9  129 


The  Kindergarten 

much  of  value  to  communicate,  to  which 
they  may  be  of  the  greatest  service,  and  re- 
ceive, in  return,  inestimable  help  in  solv- 
ing their  peculiar  problems. 

It  requires  close  and  careful  observation 
of  children  from  the  time  they  open  their 
eyes  to  the  world,  and  accurate  recording 
of  these  observations,  but  it  gives  such  a 
knowledge  of  the  particular  child  as  no 
mere  careless  living  by  its  side  could  ever 
do,  and  often  makes  it  possible  to  avert 
serious  evils,  either  mental,  physical,  or 
spiritual,  whose  beginnings  might  not 
otherwise  have  been  noticed. 

It  enables  the  mother,  when  she  gives  her 
little  one  into  the  care  of  the  kindergarten, 
and  later  into  that  of  the  school,  to  fur- 
nish at  the  same  time  a  brief  record  of  his 
development  up  to  that  date,  which  is  an 
immense  saving  of  time  and  labour  to  the 
teacher,  and  enables  her  at  once  to  classify 
and  place  him  according  to  his  abilities. 
She  knows  whether  his  senses  are  defec- 
tive; whether  he  has  any  small  malady,  or 
tendency  to  malady,  which  must  be  con- 
sidered; whether  he  is  fond  of  exercise  or 
130 


In  a  Nutshell 

must  be  encouraged  to  take  it;  whether  he 
is  irritable  or  of  a  nervous  temperament ; 
whether  he  eats  and  sleeps  normally,  and 
so  on.  These  points  are  largely  physical, 
of  course,  though  they  all  bear  upon  edu- 
cation none  the  less;  but  imagine  the  valu- 
able facts  that  might  be  added  as  to  the 
child's  knowledge  of  colours  and  forms  and 
tones,  as  to  his  experiences,  as  to  his  mem- 
ory, his  powers  of  observation,  his  judg- 
ment, his  fancy,  his  tractability,  his  pecu- 
liarities, and  his  special  interests.  You 
can  see  at  once  that  the  teacher  is  placed 
in  an  entirely  different  position  in  regard 
to  him,  and  can  go  to  work  with  a  known, 
or  measurably  known,  quantity,  instead  of 
with  an  utterly  unknown  one. 

One  of  the  most  valuable  associations 
that  women  can  organise,  not  only  for 
their  children,  but  for  themselves  and  for 
the  future  welfare  of  the  community,  is  a 
Child-Study  Circle;  for,  banded  together 
with  such  an  object  in  view,  the  knowledge 
and  experience  of  the  one  are  multiplied  by 
the  knowledge  and  experience  of  the  others, 
and  the  combined  force  of  enthusiasm 
131 


The   Kindergarten 

makes  a  power  in  their  own  little  corner 
of  the  world. 

Every  mother  is  more  or  less  of  an  in- 
stinctive child-student;  but  for  those  who 
wish  to  take  up  the  work  more  definitely 
and  with  fuller  understanding  of  its  bear- 
ings, there  are  countless  helps  to  be  had  in 
interesting  tracts  and  pamphlets  and  books 
upon  the  subject,  in  "  questionnaires  "  and 
observation- blanks  furnished  by  Child- 
Study  Societies,  and  in  a  magazine  devoted 
to  the  science. 

Responsibility  of  Women  for  All  Children 
In  the  first  chapter  of  this  handbook  it 
was  urged  that  no  woman  who  is  childless 
or  unmarried,  or  whose  brood  is  fledged  and 
flown,  need  therefore  think  that  she  is  ex- 
empt from  responsibility  in  these  matters. 
We  cannot  so  hedge  ourselves  into  OUF  own 
little  corners  and  declare  that  other  peo- 
ple's children  are  other  people's  business. 
"Business!"  as  Scrooge's  Ghost  said. 
"  Mankind  was  my  business;  the  common 
welfare  was  my  business;  charity,  mercy, 
forbearance,  and  benevolence  were  all  my 
132 


In  a  Nutshell 

business!  The  dealings  of  my  trade  were 
but  a  drop  of  water  in  the  comprehensive 
ocean  of  my  business." 

As  women,  we  have  a  special  duty  to- 
ward children — our  own  children,  every- 
body's children,  anybody's  children,  no- 
body's children — a  duty  which  devolves 
upon  us  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  we 
are  women,  and  one  which  is  particularly 
urgent  upon  those  who  have  had  the  bene- 
fits of  safe  and  shielded  lives,  careful  home 
training,  education,  and  cultivation. 

It  is  incumbent  upon  those  who  have 
freely  received  to  give  as  freely,  and  we 
must  feel  the  responsibility  so  keenly  that 
the  thought  will  blossom  into  action. 

Signs  are  everywhere  visible  that  women 
are  becoming  conscious  of  this  one  inalien- 
able right  of  theirs,  this  clear,  unmistak- 
able duty — at  once  a  burden  and  a  bless- 
ing, a  task  and  a  privilege,  a  cross  and 
a  crown. 

As  the  child  of  the  legend  clung  to  the 

saint  of  old,  imploring  his  aid  to  cross  the 

river,  so  he  clings  to-day  to  the  garments 

of  every  woman  amongst  us.     We  cannot, 

133 


The  Kindergarten  in  a  Nutshell 

we  dare  nofc  turn  away  from  those  implor- 
ing eyes,  nor  unclasp  those  baby  fingers; 
we  must  lift  up  the  little  one  and  carry 
him  through  the  troubled  depths,  though 
his  weight  in  midstream  seem  almost  be- 
yond our  strength. 

And  if  we  keep  bravely  on,  who  knows, 
when  at  last  we  have  forded  the  waters, 
but  that  we  too  shall  find  that,  like  St. 
Christopher,  we  have  borne  the  Christ  upon 
our  shoulders. 


134 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 
Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


Ttt     UD  1  D  Ij 


MU  |j- 

838651 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRA 


